Here and There

Here and There

 

When I was a kid, I spent my summers

near my grandfather’s farm in Port Benjamin,

in upstate New York. Port Ben wasn’t a port

anymore, not since 1900 when

the train replaced the D & H canal.

 

Anyway, the Rondout Creek ran near our house

and provided a great place to play, fish,

swim and have adventures that are with me

sharp and clear after more than sixty years.

 

To get to the creek, we had to cross a

hayfield, which, if recently mowed, was tough

on our bare feet , climb down the creek bank on

a rickety staircase and cross the muddy

bottom land on a wobbly wooden walk.

 

Here’s the point. While walking Atlantic Street

the other day, as in a foggy dream,

I found that old boardwalk spread over the

flooded soggy salt marsh, no doubt trod by

kids with sixty years of adventures remembered.

 

© Marty Luster 2011

Encore, first posted December 11, 2011.