True Story

I used to walk among the trees
And sing a happy song
Never caring who heard me
In fact I wish they'd sing along
My next-door neighbors
they were friends
but more like brothers to me
And we all thought that the end
Of summer could not be seen
Oh we played in the forest
Built a fort in the pines
And hung on the branches
Between their house and mine
And there was an old tree
That I used to think to be
The mother of the forest
though she was dead and had no leaves
And we were like family
Sharing house and home and
Coming up with games to play
And forest haunts to roam
And I used to look up
To the trees far above
And always dreamed of flying
With the birds I always loved
and one day I found a nest
very near the swings
and we watched the babies hatch
but they died without wings
and that tree was cut down
and the swings are all gone now
and i'm never around
and the old rabbit they had
for so very many years
died one night without me there
to shed any of my tears
and the old mother of the woods
she fell one thundery night
and i go there every so often
and am saddened by the sight
her roots stick up from the ground
but her branches still remain
and i sometimes sit upon them
and think about old days
all the pines in our old fort
have grown tall and stronger
and the sick trees between our houses
are replaced by young flowers
so every once in a while
i go out through the trees
and admire all the branches
and feel a summer breeze
but i always look down when i
walk into the woods
to watch where i'm stepping
instead of where i'm going
and i talk to the trees
and tell them all my troubles
but the wind through their eaves
is their only response
i'm older now and i have to work
and i don't see them anymore
those people like family to me
that still live next-door...
i have no need for scrapbooks
no photographs or albums
for every ounce of childhood
I had is in the trunks
of these trees in this forest
that i will someday leave
and when i come back I
will not see myself again
for all the trees will be old
or cut down, or sick or dead
but for now i can still walk here
and sing and talk to the trees
and pretend i am a child again
and simply, beautifully be
a person without care or worry
among friends and family.