Boyhood

Passing for gold in a little boy's heart, are the looks his father pays.

Beside patches of green grass meadow

golden wheat fields wave in the breeze

Beckoning out to all my fellows

come walk through me with ease

 

Upon just such a lazy day

I once casually sauntered by

Hearing the call of nature's beauty

thought that God had spoke just to I

 

With the sound of a lonesome whistle

down the river the steamers rolled

To this the backdrop behind the field

the childhood longing is all told

 

 Across the field dressed all in black

a boy and his team worked the ground

I stood to watch an hour or so

not moving or making a sound

 

A smile as wide as the river

shown across the boys bright face

Perhaps this was the very first time

he had taken his father's place

 

In him I could see a purpose

a reward for his tiny soul

I could tell by the way he worked

nothing would lure him of his goal

 

Long it is since I felt like that

as a boy just going on ten

Doing twice what was asked of me

to be noticed by him again

 

Passing for gold in a boy's heart

are all the looks his father pays

collecting what he can in life

to spend long into older days

 

In him I saw both rhyme and reason

as we all live and pass away

A boy working so hard to grow up

while we men all wish we could play

 

Author's Note

Is there anything that mimics the flow of life better than the big river? The mighty Mississippi rolls on to the sea.

Reviews

[Crowley]

I would like to see your poetry sprinkled about liberally in a documentary series about the history of our country. You have such an edge for nostalgic writing, it almost brings tears to my eyes every time I read something of yours. Your writing is a sophisticated Johnny Cash tune, the sweat off the back of a railroad worker, the glimmer in that young boys eyes when he knows he's done good. I just love it.

[Tate Morgan]

With this one review from eight years ago you cemented my undying gratitude and friendship I appreciate you. Many of the things I wanted to do and managed to accomplish here were directly attributed to a few good friends who through their attention brought a smile to the boy in me thank you

[Crowley]

Tate I have more respect for you than most people. You have been raising family and responsibility to new highs. Your writing always inspired me and you girmness in you political beliefs is to be admired. As one of my longest online friends, let me tell you I couldn’t ask for any better. Thanks for being a decent human being.

[Tate Morgan]

There’s hope for humanity for you and I and our children’s children May we leave them with
read moreThere’s hope for humanity for you and I and our children’s children May we leave them with
Kind thoughts of selfless behavior and a smile . As always your friend Tate

[Tate Morgan]

A better place a kinder beginning a more humane existwmce temlered by selflessness. This world today of narcesistic massaginy is creating a world of megalomaniacs someone has to be a voice of sanity we are that I hope

[Hamkar]

Peace, happiness and hope flows through this poem even if it is a little sad. I like the picture too.

[StacyPerry]

I enjoyed this work [see a pattern] and I think the song you chose reflected the writing perfectly well.

The ending paragraph hits you hard too. We all wish to be young again, yet we were wishing to be older when we were young.

[...]

. fathers are so unbelievably special and intensely clued in ... my father can't follow my life, my evolution (or degeneration) or my attempts at poetry ... but i know ... that if there is one person in my family who'd like to see me shine ... it's him ... and i've known that about my dad since i was a little girl ... you move to tears with this one ... and rightly so ... thank you for writing this and sharing this ... (serah) ...

[Joshua Donahue]

i love this!! it is so well-written and so youthful that the title is so perfect! good job! i enjoyed it!

[Abdul Aziz]

Whoa! Brilliant. I know that praising you is getting pleonastic, but I need to be honest!
The simple words that you use, and the delicate imagery, as you've used in all your poems, are a far cry from the artificial ornaments people use in poems to try and make them look good!

"Beside patches of green grass meadow
golden wheat fields wave in the breeze"
These opening two lines seem pretty innocuous, but I know how hard it is to write them, for I have never been able to capture nature so beautifully in words.

And the enchantment continues with some spellbinding stanzas of great imagery, like this one:
"To the sound of the lonesome whistle
down the river the steamers rolled
to this the backdrop behind the field
The childhood longing is all told"'
Superb!

While this stanza describing the little boy's joy in being of some help to his father, is simplistic beauty!
"A smile as wide as the river
shown across the boys bright face
Perhaps this was the very first time
he had taken his father's place"
I know that this is a beautiful stanza, but I really wish I had experienced this. Growing up without a father has had its share of disadvantages for me.

And you continue it in the same vein:
"In him I could see a purpose
a reward for his tiny soul
I could tell by the way he worked
nothing would lure him of his goal"
Ah the pleasures of boyhood. This makes me wish I was a young boy once more, which is kind of exactly what you've stated in your conclusion, which I shall come to in a short while.

"Long it is since I felt like that
as a boy just going on ten
Doing twice what was asked of me
to be noticed by him again"
Wonderful. The eagerness and joy with which we wanted to do work is described so potently here.

And the conclusion, boy oh boy:
"A boy working so hard to grow up
while we men all wish we could play"
These are lines I'll never forget. They are so true. Nothing needs to be explained here, for these two lines. They just need be enjoyed.

Another really awesome write from you, bro!

[Augustus]

This is a musical piece...I loved the way you have contrasted the perspectives of a young boy and a grown man.... The poem begins with suitably languid imagery, taking the reader back to his childhood days...the desire of going back to those days is expressed nicely in the lines
"to this the backdrop behind the field
The childhood longing is all told"
And then the perspective shifts to that of the young boy...eager to please his father...idolizing him...wanting to be all big and grown up like him...and working hard for it...
The poem summarizes its message beautifully in the last stanza

"In him I saw both rhyme and reason
as we all live and pass away
A boy working so hard to grow up
while we men all wish we could play"

I don't think the thought could be expressed better... as children or men, we will always crave for that which we do not have...
A lovely write!

[Dinesh Sairam]

Nice song Mate.. :) :)

[Dinesh Sairam]

"while we men all wish we could play"

So true. I've been seeing a lot of poems on childhood of late. And those always captivated me. Got me nostalgic, brother. Perfect.

[Tommy]

I wish I could be young again. To toil for play and blunder for life in this world all over again.

RLG,
Tommy