We used to play in the forest

We used to play in the forest,

The sweet jungle green leaves that released an aroma to lure us into its warming arms                             

we hung on  the fallen rippled tree trunks that made something like an open fort,

It was our secret hide out, that no one knew was full of poisonous snakes, Who were our friends and would only use their dry forked tongues to tickle our feet.

It made us laugh.

And laugh so hard we’d fall off our brown trunk beds,                                                             thud on dusty, orange ground and roll in its few dry leaves.

We used to play in the forest until we soiled our clothes  from  plain to striped and we matched in the sky’s dawn color.  And when we did we knew our fun was soon to end ,.

For the days to come would not let us repeat what we used to do.