Summer’s golden décor clad in fragrant leaves
Sunshine’s delicious warmth disrobes the winter freeze
Summer days of childhood-laughing innocent and free
Pirates playing in the woods and chasing round the trees
Selling nickel lemonade and making necklaces of clover
Napping in the porch swing and having cousins over
Rolling big black inner tubes barefoot down the pier
Swinging out into the water so sparkling fresh and clear
Popsicles dripping on the front sidewalk
Hopscotch and building forts and having friends to talk
Kidnapping stray kittens and dressing them in clothes
How we kept from getting scratched no one really knows
Bicycles and go-carts that we built from stuff we found
Riding them down hilly streets we’d fly across the ground
The fragrant scent of honeysuckle with its nectar sweet
We’d pull it apart and lick it off- oh it was such a treat!
Ice cold cherry Kool-Aid when we were hot and sticky
Cherry cokes Nehi orange or grape we really weren’t that picky
Skipping rope playing jacks king of the mountain too
Cowboys, Indians or Army- it was the thing to do
Tadpoles, frogs and polliwogs, caught down at the old creek bed
The smell of the muddy water is still clearly in my head
On balmy nights we loaded blankets in the car
Went to the Drive-In movie and feel asleep under the stars
So when life seems so difficult and winter seems so long
I think of the childhood summers and sing childhood song
Of bridges over in London and chants about “Red Rover”
Of “Ring around the Rosie” and “won’t you please come over?”
Reading for hours under the shade of an old oak tree
Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys were such good friends to me
Night-time would find us sleeping under the stars-
Singing around a campfire with fireflies in jars
We ate our fill of green apples and Mama’s cookies too
Picking berries for Grandma was a special thing to do
Remember when we sneaked the good playing cards from our folks?
And fastened them with clothespins to our bicycle spokes?
Family vacations with us kids fighting in the car
“Daddy, are we there yet? You said it wasn’t far!”
Skipping rocks across the water while fishing with my gramps
Whittling with the pocketknife and going to summer camps
To think of how we were then puts a smile upon my face
So innocent and happy while in that special place
To think of how we were then puts a smile upon on my face
So innocent and happy while in that special place
Summer floated lazily along when we were young and free
But now the seasons quickly fly- not like it used to be
As I look out the window to my own child in the sun
I smile as I remember back to childhood summer fun

©CkC