Lawrence Hall, HSG
Mhall46184@aol.com

                                       Toys at the Base of an Oak Tree

            “We'll be Friends Forever, won't we, Pooh?” asked Piglet.
            “Even longer,” Pooh answered.

                                                    - A. A. Milne

You find them at the base of a tree sometimes:
A pewter knight or a plastic Robin Hood
Or a marble lost in the long-ago
Turned up among the weeds by shifting roots

In the leafy silences of summer a little boy
Practiced the arts of magic and manliness
With Robin Hood and the pewter knight searching for a jewel
To present to their Lady Marian

When he was a little older the boy walked to town
To the bus station, and off to a distant war
A jewel sacrificed to the blasphemy of the State
You’ll find his name at the base of a stone

But the pewter knight and the plastic Robin Hood
And beautiful Lady Marian still wait for him