Ode to Childhood

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Oh, for the days when I was running free

Barefoot all summer along the stream

Catching tadpoles and climbing trees

Back when I was young and green

*

Not a care in the world I ran with the breeze

Green poison ivy nipping at my heals

Only to scratch clear up to my knees

Rubbing calamine lotion to help it heal

*

When I was ten and he was nine

We played all summer long

In a woods full of sunken coal mines

A place where young boys belonged

*

But those days of wonder are now just dreams

Remembering when I was young and green

*

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Posting for Dora’s d’Verse prompt of young and green, referring to our childhood years.

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71 thoughts on “Ode to Childhood”

  5. Dwight, this is so powerful and beautiful! Aw, “young and green”. Your memories make me smile. They also make me melancholy. Dora and I visited yesterday about “young and green”. You’ve hit this one out of the park! I told Dora I love being “on the green, in the green, and still, I wouldn’t mind just being green.” Today, I’m going to get out and enjoy some green that’s popping up. I hope you are both well! You’re such a gifted writer!

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    • Thank you my friend for your always kind affirmations. These memories are near and dear to me and take me right back home. I know you are an outdoor lover and as you said, always have been. Rain today but we are doing well. Thank you so much. Glad you are getting out some.

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  7. Remembering when I was young and green
    Playing in the fields and digging holes
    Pretending the hole was our playhouse
    Taking doll furniture down there
    Until a cow fell in and broke a leg
    Then dad filled it!

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  10. I could see it in my mind as I read, Dwight, as the poem rollicks around so freely, so naturally, in the rapid, heedless gait of youth. And calamine lotion — there was at least a couple of summers I was drenched in it!! Thanks for helping me relive those memories. 😂

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  17. Nicely told of the young boy’s play. I hope that someday every boy in the world could do these things. My mom wouldn’t let us go barefoot, she said that the folk who had lived here before had broken glass around.
    ..

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    • Thank you, Jim. Children today never seem to leave the house, except for organized sports. Where is the creativity in that!! You mom put the fear in you. I loved going barefoot all summer.

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  24. Oh those delightful days of spending outdoors and discovering relationship building with others or just the plain outdoors itself. We never stayed cooped up indoors! Our awareness was truly heightened. Love your poem Dwight! 🏃🏻‍♀️🤸🏻‍♀️🚴🏻‍♂️

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  25. What a lovely snapshot of those carefree days 💞 Your poison ivy itch drug up the memory of getting into stinging nettles at my great grandpa’s farm, and scrubbing with salt to help ease it. 💞

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