When I was a boy I would ride my bike Down through the Emerald Hillsides Rich with Oaken Hard wood trees To Horse Shoe Bend I'd ride
And catch the old Stage coach road Through the Hollow, following the Creek To a famous Brook Trout Fishing Site But always I would find, Fish wasn't on my mind
I'd cut down through Farmers Pasture To the Path up the Hillside, winding through A Verdant View of Nettles, Brush and Wild Strawberries I'd break free of this to a limestone bluff with 13 Water Caves
In a crack in the Wall of the Bluff I found Ancient Snail Fossil as big as my own Hand A Treasure of The Land, the crack led to the top And the Island in the Sky, A Column of Stone*
Bridged by a branch and Broken Rocks Standing Alone was an Island of Stone With Grass and a single Cedar Tree It Broke through the tree tops
A pristine view of Azure Blue, white clouds A fresh Spring fed And winding Creek bed With A Valley and rows of hills in Emerald tree Shroud And circling the updrafts Was a Pair of Arctic Hawks
By laying Still in Practiced skill The hawk would circle Down A wonder at what this thing he saw he would swoop down In so close I could have touched him , with a 3 Foot Wing Span When he flew by I would catch his eye and we made a connection
Some would say that this is a dream, but its true I declare to you From the burden of my childhood I felt safe above trees in the Air With my life From all the Ugly Bullying, this was my Sanctuary *As just a boy I realised, in the woods and the Forest I was Free
The fossil is sitting on my fire place mantle with me from that day This is one of the nicest memories of my childhood Nature, from rock Collecting to Jewel ****... wild Catnip Tea with fresh chamomile Nature was my Savior, We did a lot of Camping and fishing out hereΒ Β and when I came alone i would write poems as the soft wind brushed my face...The Indians would say it is my Guide and I fly with the Hawk Spirit..... "water cave is actually dry but the tops of the bluffs were once the banks of a raging torrent of a river and the Force of the water Carved the Hollow pocks and arched caves