Time

By John A. Wilson

Gone are the playful shouts and

The raucous din of two active little boys.

No longer do we hear the running of little feet

Through the house despite my warnings not to.

Gone is the wide-eyed wonder

As the world around them is discovered anew.

Never again will there be hours of make-believe

And heroic adventures in lands as far away as the imagination.

Gone forever are the two dirty little faces

That looked to me with innocent trust

Gone are the little boys that made my world

Such a wonderful place to live.

For time, that slowly creeping thief

Has taken from me my two little boys

But mercifully time left two fine young men

Standing in the hall where the little boys once played.