Читать книгу Breathing Space - Harold J. Recinos - Страница 17

I wore rags on the block

for school, play and church,

treated them like a block of

ice held in hand on a hot day

I thought would never dare let

me down by melting. when

kids laughed about the puddle

jumping pant legs, I tried a

first prayer objecting to the

impermanence pleading with

God to stunt my height and

keep me in those nice blue

trousers—God didn’t listen!

I wanted to explain how it

was forbidden to object to

slacks with courage to last,

that paid weekly visits to the

candles in church, absorbed

many lessons in school, and

could run quickly through the

streets reading books aloud. I

wore those raggedy things till

they were almost shorts, then

took them to Orchard Beach

for a swim, scorched them in

the sun, and lost them at last

in an apartment fire, burn. I

was surprised to miss them

when I found a bundle of ashes

with a dirty old tag in what was

left of our place—like losing

a good old friend!