He’s no Robert Frost, but it’s still one of my favorite poems by James Kavanaugh:
LITTLE BOY I MISS YOU
Little boy, I miss you with your sudden smile and
Your ignorance of pain
You walked in life and devoured it–without anything
But misty goals to keep you company.
Your heart beat mightily when you chased frogs
And captured one too big for a single hand
You wandered with friends in quiet woods and were
Startled by a shuffling porcupine
Matches were a mystery that lighted fires and
Chewed up leaves in savage hunger.
There was no time for meaning–a marshmallow gave it
On a sharpened stick
A jackknife in your pocket provided comfort when your
Friends were gone
A flower in the woods hidden by an aging
Shriveled log
A dog who danced and licked at your fingers and
Chewed your jeans
A game of football you didn’t expect
A glass of cider, a cricket’s cry.
When did you lose your eyes and ears, when did taste
Buds cease to tremble;
Whence this sullenness, this mounting fear, this quarrel
With life–demanding meaning?
The maddening search is leisure’s bonus–the
Pain that forbids you be a boy!
When was the last time?
When was the last time that you reached back?
That you RE-MEMBERED–actually found a couple of forgotten or not-so-intentionally displaced memories that actually made Your Life, YOUR LIFE?
It happens in not so expecting moments, doesn’t it?
A sip of a drink. . .
A taste of a food. . .
A smell of a fragrance. . .
A sound–crunching leaves beneath your feet. . .tires on a gravel road. . .fish splashing on a glass-smooth pond or gently running stream. . .a song. . .
And then. . .then you’re THERE. . .
with the realization that you…YOU WERE A THEN and a NOW and hopefully a WILL-BE. . . .
Little boy I miss you. . .
WHEN…WHEN DID YOU LOSE YOUR EYES AND EARS, WEHN DID TASTE BUDS CEASE TO TREMBLE. . .?
Go ahead–Reach back–IT wants to be F E L T
as much as you want to Touch.
Go ahead (RE)Introduce yourself to YOU. . . .
LIVE IT ALL OVER AGAIN–
Even more so–Better!
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