Laughter from the Park (Babenhausen, Germany, Spring of 1975)

Laughter from the Park
(Babenhausen, Germany—spring of 1975)

Birds fly over head…cars running by going nowhere…
a kid’s laughter is heard, echoes throughout the little park
a siren goes off—the boy doesn’t know why—(at the military base nearby)
it sounds again, soldiers smiling with their marching arrangements…
and life goes on, on, on,
as always.
The little boy runs, tries to whistle, escapes and hides (under bushes)
from those flying birds, and creepy crawlers
playing in that deep green, with its soft soil (anxiously)
and from the swings and teeter-totter, drama under the blue
he looks about this mysterious world…with new eyes.
All is clear; flowers budded above the bushes, light from the sun
creates a warm wind and a view that puts a smile on the boy’s face
to his memory completely fresh as a new born chick
it’s life that will not be remembered, not at four…
And life goes on, on, on,
as always.
The boy’s hands, mind and body are mixed with geometry
he is living in a magic world, merrymaking his revelry,
with the dome of the earth overhead, as his silver throne
looking for that golden trumpet, that sounded a while ago!
From the park to the Old Babenhausen Tower we walk
Cody and me, it is 1975; to him, the sun is a ball above his head,
but he doesn’t say a word, he doesn’t have the vocabulary yet;
he just thinks it….
Our apartment is down the street a bit from the tower,
I reveal a secret to him: that evening is coming
and that the moon is a ball, colored like the sun…
and neither one follows him, it just seems so!
He keeps the secret and smiles—looks up.
He is living with multiple wings…
and his mind is racing like the swings,
and life goes on, on, on
as always.
He wonders if he’ll have time to catch up…?

Dedicated to Cody Siluk Sir; No: 1941 (8-17-2007); the author lived in Babenhausen, Germany for several months in 1975, out of close to 5-years he spent in West Germany throughout the 70s.