Ten Years Old Again by Michael De Rosa

Walking,  to cross a stream 

I see a narrow plank bridge. 

My eyes light up 

ten years old again. 

I smile as I stride across 

leaving decades behind  

Further on, 

stepping-stones lead across the flow. 

I skip from rock to rock. 

Turn, and wait for my old self to catch up. 

I pass a pond. 

Frogs croak. 

Who can resist? 

They are there for little boys to catch. 

The wet trail leads up. 

Through the mud I keep on walking. 

At the top a view 

only my breath to tell me, 

I’m not ten years old. 

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Michael De Rosa is a writer from Wallingford, PA, who recently retired as a professor (emeritus) of chemistry at Penn State Brandywine. Interests are travel, photography, and birding. The writer has recently published a short story "The Nuptial Dance in Xs and Ys,” in Academy of the Heart And Mind.