I could laugh and scream all day,

play in the soil and mock the world,

there wasn’t a chance of being hurt

I was simply a boy with a magic heart.

I remember chuckling out loud,

at a sibling playing a trick on me,

I recall thinking that was allowed

for as a child no ill words hurled

Even on rainy days in the early spring,

I’d glance out the picture window,

watching the robins dance in the lawn,

and I was a child just watching the world.

I remember being a kid among my peers,

playing basketball to the many cheers,

I was on the bench but my friends,

they were the ones creating the smiles.

Saturday afternoon,

grey clouds without notice,

a walk into the room,

the one with the picture window,

the faces all looked so grim,

I hadn’t a clue, we’d one our game,

and then the words,

they’ll haunt me as they do today

your cousin ____ died last night,

no names were needed then.

I stole away into my room,

cried a million tears wondered

what could certainly take me away,

so this reality might not return.

See, there’s a tool of laughter,

happiness dances, when just a child,

we haven’t heard of any disaster,

so why today, is life still so wild.