A place to escape to when life became too hard to deal with in childhood.

Cross my bridge
dangle my bare legs,
across still waters
my heart felt lost
in the depths I faced.
I see serpents come alive
do battle in the open air,
funnel in and out of reality
I part waters with thoughts
so pure. I trace its patterns
back to an old tire swing,
still hanging from an old Oak tree
The one I swung on as a child
never afraid of falling on hard ground
into realms seldom crossed
the bridge was always in my mind
knowing someday I would have to cross
or be drowned by the depths
I had to survive each day.

The pond in my dreams
the creek drowns out voices,
bull frogs with masculine speak
the lapping at the run off,
the Blue Heron in flight
after a morning dip, catching a blue gill napping.
Graceful flight onto branches high
too high for my thoughts
that were damaged behind the shed
my black long shirt still shaking
in the dark of an angered mind
took me away from a paradise
I still taste the breath of its ground raked
my consciousness holds the form
the land next to the bridge I crossed.

Scorched parts of my life,
still flooding me with desperate words
a fork stuck in my back,
slowly twisted into cords,
deep as an axe would go
comes painfully back to me.
I feel the wind touch me
apologize for the shadows
soon to engulf my life
but I was too young to swallow,
the reason for the dark clouds
always just behind the sun
the walks down the bridge
and seeing the pond reflect back my sadness,
were too short and infrequent to please me.

I had to walk fast
before the wild hogs found me
enjoying the brightness of the day
for I was to them a child of the darkness
into the cellar I should stay.

I learned to walk among the wild,
sensing tall giants looking down
my smallness was too much
for it to fathom my significance
of a small child soon to cross
the bridge of tragedy
impale me to the ground.
I became fond of Spearmint and Clover
hiding there until the ordeal was over.
I was at peace with the grass cupping my tears
like rain would with no clouds,
just the darkness gathered over me,
hearing the screaming in my mind
of countless souls falling into the murky depths
of a dark pond; so they don't have to face
a future dismal and gray like mine
if had no pond to look out into its shining surface
and know its soul was loving as mine
forever I can hold its peace and be one
with its spirit and pray for others not so lucky
to cross its bridge and be safe for awhile.

I hold onto the earth
the vibrant colors in the air,
saved me from this clinging despair
wash all over me again
its still remains alive in my mind
I can still hear the water rushing
into the great reservoir of time;
its life giving liquid in my veins
as I cross my bridge,
into life's sunshine on the other side
the pond stirs my soul alive.