I once had a tire swing;
by a little creek
everyday after school,
if you looked for me
that's where I would be

On it I became Tarzan,
a pirate,
Superman,
or a Chinese ninja

but then one day
on came the rain
pitter patter
pitter patter
faster and faster

my tire swing
by the little creek
swung in the wind
its caressing arms empty
I was not there

pitter patter
pitter patter
faster and faster
the rain I could not control

as the creek
swallowed up my swing
first lapping at the
black rubber sole
then filling up the place
where I once sat and laughed
until that little creek
no longer so little
tugged my lonely swing off its rope

I was engulfed by responsibility,
first one chore, then another

by the time the rain stopped
there was no time to play
I had
a job
a fiance
responsibilities

innocence lost
childish play a memory
I never went back to,
my tire swing
that was once mine but no longer

the one by the little creek
which I've heard is now a river
and the tire swing of which I speak
now only an old,
tired,
frayed,
rope