Water World

Look at the
water! Look
at the water!
It is so clean
and foamy white.
When it shoots
out of the ground
there are shouts
and giggles
and whoops of delight.

This world
is a safe place
for little girls;
it is magical
and full of smiles.

A younger girl watching an older girl -
instinctively comprehending
the watery freedom
that a few more years
and a swimsuit
will bring?

And, far into her future,
when she’s journeyed long
and climbed the distant mountain
where old age resides,
I wonder if she’ll reminisce
about all of this
and gaze down
on a remembered neverending summer
where all was innocence
in Fountain Square
when they turned on the fountains
and she was there.