To Martha
[To my childhood friend, Martha]
Muddy puddles
And balls of clay.
Rain-slick streets
And friends at play.
We wandered ‘hoods,
And built big forts.
We played in sprinklers
In polka-dot shorts.
We drank from hoses;
We played hula-hoop.
We ate salty seaweed
On the neighbor’s stoop.
We dreamed big dreams
Of solving mysteries,
We made up rhymes
With hickory-dickory.
We played recorder,
A kind of flute.
We sat on doormats
Made of jute.
On Halloween,
We made a haul.
A load of sugar,
Ten pounds in all.
We played outside,
‘Til it was dark.
We’d stay all day
At the neighborhood park.
We played mah-jong
And shared our tomes.
Your encyclopedia
You always loaned.
I don’t know where
That world has gone.
But as time travels,
It’s just begun.
clarakatalin 