Missouri Childhood      

             Once a child under the locust trees                             

                                                   And living in sultry Missouri.

      I climbed down the creaky oak stairway

 I stole away out the door.

Outdoors was my domain in those summer days.

I was a slender child in Columbia, Missouri

Playing in the daisy dappled meadows

And skating down the knee scabbed sidewalks.

Barefoot on the grassy lawn.

 Missouri cicadas buzzed all the night long

As I lay on the clover strewn lawn

And  gazed up at the starry night

Breathed  locust blossom scented air—

And I went to bed dreaming of ghost ships

Circling the globe on sea currents

As horned owls flew past my open windows.

Then time carried me far away

From all the places where I liked to play--

Looks like I am in Michigan to stay.

Water in a clear babbling creek

Changes course

And sings as it flows along—songs of

 Where it has been

And  maybe what is yet to be.

              --Barbara Spring