Little Boy and Old Man

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