All a Boy Needs
B.F. Reynolds
One boy needs a river to visit in the summertime.
One boy needs to triple skip stones
while sitting on the river bank,
in the shade of a willow
on a warm sleepy afternoon.
One boy needs to dig in the dirt.
One boy needs to wet foot upstream march
through the secret fishing hole,
scaring scaly gill breathers
and infuriating old men wearing lure laden caps.
One boy needs a father to help him hook his squirming worm.
One boy needs to swim the width of the river this summer,
clear across to the other side,
proving he too is among the elite,
the big kids, the guys.
One boy needs his best friends to cuss with.
One boy needs to soldier in the duck egg wars.
One boy needs a girl to walk along the river shore,
on warm summer nights,
with skies full of stars and stars in his eyes.
One boy needs to walk alone in pain.
One boy needs to know why.
One boy needs a bride in white,
in a river's edge wedding,
with food and friends and uncles and aunts,
and ants.
One boy needs to put a worm on his own boy's hook.
One boy needs to sprinkle his mother's
ashes in the river at dawn.
One boy needs a river to visit in the summertime,
and one boy needs a river to call home.
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