The cool summer breeze sings lullabies to me softly

And the sunlight speckles green grass

As I jump in leaps and bounds

From one mossy rock to another

In the stream that runs through my backyard

Minnows struggle to swim upstream

I count them – two, four, six, eight, ten…

There must be hundreds

Birds chirp to each other

Water whispers to me

My feet in the dirt

My eyes meet the baby blue sky

With my hands grasping

A branch of a willow tree

It supports me

A crutch to an eleven year old

I sit on the tree’s bough

Basking in it

Safe, lost in the wonder of it all