I lived in trees
As a kid
Sometimes upside down
Like a lazy possum,
A swinger like Tarzan.
The world was different.
Green all around;
Blue above
With clouds.

Imagination was my emperor,
My pal.
It walked beside me everywhere
Like a happy shadow.

The wind tugged
whispering
To become a bird;
To sprout wings;
To tempt fate;
To fly.

I was Alexander the Great;
Genghis Khan
And even Plato or Aristotle
Sometimes.

John Wayne in Horse Soldiers,
‘A saber-rattling good picture’,
Was my favorite.
Pirates stood second
In line.

Laughter was contagious.
A mutually beneficial virus.

Life was simple;
Easy to understand.
My super light body
Survived on fragile limbs
That swayed
Threatening to send me back
To the mud world.

Now I’m big;
Heavy.
My bones are brittle
Like thin ice.

In the mornings
I merge with
Rush hour
Traffic.

There’s a mortgage to pay.

It’s madness.
Parasites nibble at my mind.