The Fortress

Like the Army, we kids would try almost anything until it tried to kill us, and failed.

By Arley Steinhour 070511

When I was about nine I guess

We seven friends built us a fort

Safe from bombs and enemy

Even Mom's retort

We figured if it were above ground

Everyone would know

So dig we did until we found

Hard-pan clay below

We dug a crooked entry

A tunnel where girls won't go

Took turns at being sentry

Just like G I Joe

The hole was near seven deep

The tunnel twenty long

Just like Snow White's Seven Elves

We dug with hearty song

Scrounging up good lumber

Had us searching everywhere

Fence posts, door, all kinds of wood

Was game for building there

I think it took about three days

Till camouflaged and crowned

The only thing that one could see

Was a crate above the ground

The fort was very sturdy

With two feet of dirt on top

Some old doors and a couple poles

Gave us headroom, but not a lot

Weeks later came a rain storm

Roof sagging taught us dread

But with a bit of limb support

We kept the roof off of our heads

We kind of got to thinking

In this fort we weren't too safe

Two feet of mud weighed quite a bit

As the bowing branch vouchsafed

Abandon ship, did come the cry

As we slipped and slid through tunnel

We had to spend a long time in the rain

To remove the mud from fortress funnel

My bro and I knew we were dead

If we came home muddy looking sallow

So once home we sneaked to the hose

And scrubbed till clean and fallow

Don't come in, the order

Grandma ran a squeaky ship

Back porch was the limit

Where disrobed we caught the whip

Cold wet skin sure does sting

When the switch is used skin naked

But that was just a part of life

We could have been dead, not naked.

AMEN