Banks of the Wabash

There is a peacefulness that can only be found in youth,

where lies unbounded joy and childish bravado

before life has had its turn at taking no prisoners,

streaming plentiful its temptation of ruinous courses

when long days fed into weeping unending nights,

and loneliness is well known and has been named

Whence we children invented new worlds by the riverside,

where cool crystal waters sparkled under the blazing sun

beneath the tall oak tree, the clouds dancing to a cobalt sky

as sea grasses sprung forth, a testament to beauty in brown

and I laughed in abandon with my rambunctious siblings,

with high flying kites, that little red wagon, sweet little lives

It is in  times of darkness, how those memories do await

where innocence was an ever present gift to be savored

and I was bequeathed a mother’s unconditional love

for now, when I feel that ever encroaching loneliness

I think of that peaceful time on the banks of the Wabash

when kites flew high and free, as did our joy and peace