To a Boy by a Small Pool on Spirit Lane

By: Minosha Posted on: August 26, 2009

There stands Otis poolside, unfettered

With the burden of experience.

Yet, the appraisal of his betters

Weighs heavy in a mind delirious

For the camaraderie of a few good fellows.

Hail conformity! Blow hard, the bellows

That stoke the fires of the boyish mind!

His grubby knees espouse his exploits.

Here, a dark-haired boy of the kind

Who silences his softer aesthetic, adroit

Perception and deft of vision

To see the grail of his celebrated mission:

Fireflies! As if the banal pack of chaps

Could decry such fashionable plunder,

Or suffer the woes of mental lapse

To contemplate the natural wonder.

The only cost to dodge comeuppance,

The boy parts ways with his beloved buttons.

So fill the jar, says I! Embrace congruity.

Let us all cast off unique expression

To join the ranks of bland community.

Or save young Otis his transgression,

Encourage him to stand alone and weather

The callow taunts of his so-called brothers.