Once upon a moment when trees
were green and skies were always blue,
It was summer on the calendar but
springtime of our youth, and
truth was whatever we said it was.
 
Our kingdom was 40 acres of pine
prickly to climb but not impossible.
Also, peach, pecan, pear and oak.
Two gravel pits in which to swim,
the Little River to be baptized in
 
to wash away our mortal sin; wading
into the water and waiting our turn
to be dunked, the current so strong
we had to hold hands to keep from
being washed away ourselves.
 
Before summer camp and boys, before
we put away our childish toys we always
had a horse to ride, sword and pistol
by our side like Aunt Dora sang with
so many verses and she knew them all.
 
When a new horse was needed
we had only to go to the woods
to find a smooth lean stick just
our size, mount up and away
we would ride. We galloped
 
much faster after we got our cowboy
boots and fringed leather jackets
for Christmas that year. We were
Roy and Dale, or Dan and Judy
from the B-Bar-B Ranch. Always
 
much to do —  roundups, stampedes,
holdups, bank robberies, no bad guy
was safe from our cap guns. It took a lot
of work to keep law and order but we
always made it home in time for supper.


© by June Crawford Sanders.
Used with the author's permission.