-- Childhood Journeys in Books --

By John Herlihy

The journey of knowledge makes its way,

Through the rangy outback and bushland of books,

Drawn deep into a book’s inner pages,

With their sharp, incisive, and tempting hooks.

Borrowed or bought in second-hand bookshops,

Where they lie patiently waiting to be read.

Once I set out inside, my interest never stops,

The intense drive of the journey takes hold instead.

The crisp white pages may turn yellow and fray,

The smell of mold mixing with the spice of air.

But until the book’s finale, I am here to stay,

Trapped in the magic and mystery of the books’ flair.

Robert Lewis Stevenson seized my curious mind,

Taking me on adventures never known otherwise.

His Treasure Island held intrigue of another kind,

Sheer adventure found in a book under open skies.

In Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn;

I too grew up along the swift-moving Mississippi River.

lost within its pages always left on my face a grin;

Together they had wild adventures that made me shiver.

Charles Dickens drew me into the world of 19 century England,

What it meant to be an orphan in the character of Oliver Twist.

Caught in the criminal embrace of the Artful Dodger Fagin,

With tales of London’s seedy underworld that I couldn’t resist.

Let us not forget the sublime story of Swiss Family Robinson,

Shipwrecked in the East Indies on the way to Australia.

With its moral teachings of frugality, acceptance and cooperation,

A treasure trove of boyhood adventure I gathered as memorabilia.

The Alaskan wilderness comes alive in Walt Morey’s Gentle Ben,

After the death of his brother, Mark fiends a new friend.

The touching tale of a unique friendship, a truly literary gem,

Between a boy and a bear who built an enduring bond to the end.

Finally, Susan Burnford’s Incredible Journey totally captivated my mind,

The brave Labrador, an old bull terrier, and a dainty Siamese cat.

A perilous journey leads them thru the wilderness so unkind,

Thru hardship, each animal displayed all the virtues of an aristocrat.

I remember still the boyhood journeys in books I took as a child,

Adventures that I could never take on my own into wilderness wild.

These unlikely tales encouraged me to travel in adventures of my own,

On an incredible journey of a lifetime I would not otherwise have known.

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(c) John Herlihy 12 October 2018