The Arbor Poem by Jim Cannon

There are those of us who don't quite fit, and we never will.
Who never lost the child within, and are guided by it still.

Yesterday I took a walk through the city's core;
A routine that I had performed many times before.
The traffic crept in tedious lines on its dreary way
To boring destinations on another nothing day.

And sometime in that walk, I don't remember when,
I perceived a narrow street that I hadn't seen till then.
The stream of cars had cleared and I made a crossing where
A grove of trees was standing that I didn't know was there,

And came upon an arbor where nature's hand held sway,
A green and shady solitude that invited me to stay.
I entered it expecting to simply pass on through,
But voices whispered softly we have a place for you.

The arbor closed around me in a shroud of leaves and wood
And with a gentle strength held me where I stood.
A path appeared and beckoned and I followed it along
To a place I had forgotten, and a time I thought was gone.

I was young again, playing all alone
In a verdant wetland just below my home
Eating plump red berries that had fallen on the ground
Where I hid behind some bushes so I could not be found.
The grass and trees embraced me as a breeze came by to say
Welcome back to childhood though you never went away.
The summer sun smiled warmly in a deep eternal blue
And I yielded to the fantasy knowing it was true.
I watched a redwing blackbird balance on a reed
And listened to the buzz of bees roaming through the weeds.
I saw a snake slide slowly through the undergrowth
And dammed a little stream where my twig boats could float.
Then standing on a hill that I had climbed before
Surveyed my shining kingdom that would last for evermore.

I don't recall what it was that yanked me with a jerk
Back to the clamor of the city and people hurrying to work
Where I found myself alone again standing on a street
With buildings all around and pavement 'neath my feet.

And the arbor that conveyed me to a world i had forgot
Was just some trees that had grown on a vacant lot.
But my spirit had been lifted from knowing where I'd been,
And knowing what i knew, and knowing what I'd seen.

There are those of us who don't quite fit and we never will,
Who never lost the child within, and are guided by it still.