The
Kings of Summer
(to John Menard)
I dream of mates
and double-dates
and the reign
of Boyhood Kings;
Of when we lay in
barren fields
and watch’d
the ‘Bird’ fall down;
of how we'd ‘trip’
and fight and dance,
laughing at
youthful things;
When we swam the
Old Mill Dam,
streak’d naked
through the Sound.
We exacted our sweet
revenge
in your father's
bottled ales,
And were proud and
invincible
unto the very
last,
Now you lay on a
gurney-bed
so close unto
the Veil;
Answer me, lost
brother, where lie
the Kings
of Summer past?
Did you see the Pale
Horse coming -
the sweeping
of his blade?
If only I were there
to be
your second
in the duel -
But I moved on and
you remained,
so distant
from my aid -
O’, together we'd
have silenced,
silenced the
Fates so cruel.
I dream of mates
and double-dates
the breaking
of the bough;
Answer me, lost
brother, where lie
the Kings
of Summer now?
- Douglas H. Thew
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