SENSE AND NONSENSE

A Facebook friend was eight years old

In nineteen sixty-seven

We lived next door with my three kids

And friendship was a given

 

Our families fished the nearby creek

I don’t think that was legal

But land-locked salmon tasted good

And finances were meager

 

One day we heard some frantic screams

From woods along the creek

Two little girls, one was my friend,

They’d screamed ’til they were weak.

 

My little friend had stumbled on

A Connibear-type trap

All set to kill an animal

With a body-gripping snap

 

The other girl detached the chain

Attached to nearby tree

Metal clamps compressed the leg

‘Twas caught so painfully

 

With cries of  “Help” she half-dragged friend

Through underbrush and brier,

Desperation gave her strength

And love helped her aspire.

 

My husband grasped the rigid clamps

That held the leg secure

It took a mighty effort

To release  that Connibear.

 

The years went by and last I saw

Her wound no longer showed

A married woman with four kids

Doing handsprings on the road!