Grandson and Elkhorn Creek

Through the trees and along Elkhorn creek

The Great Blue Heron stands with its long beak

In the shallows it will wade

Gulp a fish down, it will today

In the water hand in hand

My grandson plays in the sand

Mesmerizing is the trickle

The water cool gives him a tickle

He laughs as he wades with me

While I seek shade from a tree

An old log ,where we sat

The other end is some raccoon scat

Bitter not sweet like cherries

It consists of Poke Weed berries

Possums eat them too I’ve seen

I say “ do not touch ,it’s not clean!”

“Little island “ he calls the gravel bar

From the water we cross not far

Invigorated by the cool deep water

He twist and turns as if he’s an otter

We wade up in the shallow again

On his face is a grin

I point -a snake goes up a tree

I ask him “ do you see?”

He looks at the creature

My grandson studies every twist and feature

A turtle he spots in the sun

He points , it’s such good fun

Under water ,backward the crawdads flow

He watch’s - quickly do they go

We scoop them up with a net

One out of four attempts is a good bet

His face shining like a star

We slip the crawdads in a water jar

We catch a little minnow too

“In the jar” I say “for you !

For my grandson there’s such a yearning

In the creek to be learning

Time well spent I believe

Once again it’s time to leave

I ask “Free our creatures we caught today ?

“ Yes Papaw , let them play!”