Four Boys At The Rivers Edge

Four boys at the rivers edge
Doing what boys do
Amusing themselves
With rocks and stones
Skimming across the turbulent surface.

No care for tomorrow
No memory of yesterday
Only hear and now
With compatriots enthusiastic
A time and place of their choosing.

Not a meeting, not a care
Save hunger or thirst
Those most basic of needs
To dispel the moment
To warrant their attention.

I remember it well,
When once I ran.
Where once I fell,
And skinned a knee,
And then forgot.

Those brilliant dreams of Youth, And now,
The harsh face of reality
But Oh, to go back! Just once –
And fling - with all my might
One - carefree - skimming stone.


Bill Schatzabel April 2008