By Charles C. (Charlie) Gaines
Just a boy in ragged blue jean shorts
barefooted, sharp witted, and fearless,
I roamed the shadows of cedar covered hills
and waded mossy creek-beds
from dawn to dusk in solitude.
Tarzan or Hercules, Roy Rogers or Daniel Boone,
depending on the day and where my imagination took me.
Built waist high forts from fallen limbs, and tree stumps,
dammed the sleepy stream below the bluff
to form shallow pools. Caught red and green crayfish
on a string baited with bacon or bologna.
Climbed slopes so steep I had to move on all fours.
My long bow and arrows fletched in orange,
or the trusty rusted pellet rifle, made shot after shot
on any threatening beer cans or cardboard boxes
that dared to show their face.
Being alone was welcome, silence was at a premium.
Sixty years later those glorious days
inform the core of the man I have become.
Charles C. (Charlie) Gaines is a retired family dentist. Having been a junior high school teacher and coach, a gun fighter at Six Flags Over Texas, among dozens of other pursuits, he now lives in downtown Fort Worth. A life-long lover of poetry, he began to write once again as he neared and eventually entered retirement. He is an active member of the Fort Worth Poetry Society and The Poetry Society of Texas. He has been published by 50 Word Stories, The Academy of Heart and Mind and forthcoming in 2026 by River Paws Press.
