Oftentimes, pictures float through my mind
Like random snippets from a video
Filling my head with fleeting thoughts
Of memories from long ago

A tree that sported a tire swing
That soared out over the creek
The year that we were five years old
And Carl kissed me on the cheek

Falling into the chicken coop
While learning to ride a bike
The day Junior shot the rattlesnake
The time Bon sold her trike

Chocolate fudge that never hardened
Kids eating it from a spoon
Beans and potatoes; potatoes and beans
Hide-and-seek by the light of the moon

Easter eggs hidden in the garden
A front yard where grass never grew
Having to hide Junior's mandolin
The best Christmases we ever knew

Cheryl selling her hoe to Doug Billy
Spending the nickel that it brought
Danny hiding his by the chimney
Childhood schemes that were all for naught

Helping Mother with the housework
Remembering all the sewing she did
Lena was scared of Uncle Bud's stuttering
When he visited, she always hid

The scathing burn on Cheryl's hand
An army cot bought for eight cents
Dressie looking in Daddy's window
The pony knocking down the fence

The awful cut on Reese's foot
The huge buckeye Lena found
Losing two pennies out of a dime
Riding the merry-go-round

Hanging clothes in the wintertime
As they freeze-dried on the lines
The weary look on Daddy's face
When he was laid-off from the mines

Using the outhouse no matter the weather
No toilet paper; making do with a cob
Trying to fly from the coal house roof
Learning Basil Brown quit his job

Hiding behind the bedroom door
Cutting off Cheryl's locks
Singing with Lena at the bus stop
Wading the creek and skipping rocks

A little toy tractor by the name of Clyde
And a pet turtle called Tightrope
Sitting on the front porch when it stormed
Eating home grown cantaloupe

Enjoying those times whenever I choose
Transcending both time and space
As long as my mind can think and dream
They will always have a special place

Like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle
All those fragments are so dear to me
When I open my heart and close my eyes
And relive the past through my memory

Kathleen McCoy Eldridge©
February 10, 2009
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