the sun shone bright against the water
the waves rippled gently in a shallow wake
and the clouds floated lazily through the sky
as the geese landed gently on the lake

there was no past and no future
no dreams of what might come
only the beautiful and awesome reality
that today was not yet done

we talked of crushes and cooties
and all of the older far-off dreams
but distraction surrounded us with play
life was exactly all it seems

in those sunny days it took so little
to make our bonds and hold them strong
we played together in the muddied creek
and nothing could make that go wrong

they told us to enjoy our childhood
they told us it'd soon be gone
we absorbed ourselves in every moment
but couldn't understand our dawn

one day we stood and looked out
over all we'd done before
and realized with bittersweet astonishment
we had walked through childhood's door

as we waited on the threshold
tenatively awaiting our turn to leave
we knew what we had could never return
as surely as we knew we'd never grieve