Crow's Nest

From cast-off plywood, two-by-fours,

Scraps of any kind of lumber,

Each summer we built rafts to float

Like Huck and Jim on the river

But never got one there. We knew

With every hammer stroke we'd keep

The finished rafts in yard or field,

Drifting as the grass around grew deep,

Shooting the rapids of August.

We made them into play forts later,

Into bridges over narrow creeks -

As close as they would come to water.

In only one did we take off,

The one we hoisted like an anchor

Up a tree and made our crow's nest

In the full sails and Jolly Roger

Of the leaves. Riding the swelled air,

Lookouts for all we couldn't see

Before, we were high and dry and still

Not run aground on what would be.