Interlude At the Fountain

Cooling jets of water flaunt their flowing liquidity
Tinkling their melodies of eternal optimism
Children dance through shimmering rainbows
Coated in silver wonder they play
“Tag, you’re it,” cries a joyous voice
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Pattering footsteps displace mercurial ponds
Frayed ponytail whips around, tickling a pert nose
Running pell-mell to catch the blonde escapee
Taunting little brother narrowly evading her grasp
Their game carries on a cycle of generations lost and found
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Mothers new and old chat on the surrounding benches
Watching their young charges as they speak of life
“Did you hear about Gloria’s sister?”
“You won’t believe what Franny’s boy Pete did today…”
Humanity’s conversations, always flowing, rarely ceasing
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Eyes brimming with knowing humor crinkle at the antics displayed
As a ruddy faced matron stretches arthritic extremities
Allowing darting needles to still from their task for a moment
As a colorful blanket of soft woven yarn being created below
Whispers a silken sigh of relief and settles into an ample lap
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A young mother anxiously gasps her worry
As her fragile offspring slips on an acorn
Carelessly discarded by the nearby oak
Sighing with relief as the child resumes his play
Never noticing the anxious parental concern
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Women chatting of life and love, husband and kids
They worry about the bills or paying the rent
Still, each mother pauses occasionally, wistfully watching
As carefree children recall to mind their own days
Splashing in the fountain and chasing the rainbow
And for a short eon in the vastness of Always
Before returning to the concerns of everyday subsistence
They turn back the clock and, for a moment, exist once more
In life’s circuitous game of “Tag, you’re it.”
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