Little Boy and Old Man
The little boy stopped running.
He turned around and laughed,
His eyes twinkling with mischievous glee.
His mouth burst open in a half moon smile
That stretched from ear to ear.
The old man smiled down at him tenderly,
Charmed,
Then reflected with a dull thud of melancholy
That this boy would one day sit and stare pensively,
No longer with eyes twinkling,
But with eyes deep and drawn,
Contemplating a world that had once seemed so simple.
– John E Leahy
ca 1971