Dumb luck!

As a young child, alone

i would hike many miles

 

on military reservations

exploring along unmarked pathways 

 

on trails which stuck in my mind, 

how to get back before dark

 

not just a walk in the park

never a care, How? Why? 

 

not quite defiance, 

self-reliance, perhaps

 

never a second thought

for what if... or what might

 

nothing i was taught 

prepared me for that

 

bring a young black child 

with a yearning to learn 

 

what i needed to know 

about animals 

 

with nothing 

but a natural sense of adventure 

 

as a driving force, 

a hope and a slight semblance 

 

of what you might call a prayer

While i was still young, 

 

say 10 or so, our family 

lived on base in Germany. 

 

By that time brave 

or foolish friends 

 

would come with me, 

sometimes using bikes. 

 

Expanding the territory 

we might discover. 

 

Brave or foolish, 

definitely. 

 

Yet we always found our way back. 

Except, once or twice, 

 

my family called the military police 

to find me when it was getting dark. 

 

And i was still on my way back, 

where i knew where i was, 

 

But my parents were old school 

Back before the streetlights came on 

 

was the rule. Punished, 

i was a detention valedictorian. 

 

Restriction too many times 

to remember. 

 

i was a genuine explorer, 

not a pretender. 

 

how did i get back safe each time. 

Luck if you believe. 

 

Prayer i am sure 

my account 

 

was overdrawn to many times 

over my allowance.

 

carried no maps 

or auxiliary supplies

 

food, water, dry set of clothes. 

weapons, in case i was attacked.

 

Nothing, 

not even I.D.

 

Imagine that?

 

 

C2