When You're Six

********** For Brayden **********

When you’re six and almost seven,

the lake is as big as the ocean

and the big fish are just waiting to be caught

and the island to be explored, a wild place,

and we can walk the trail to Georgia

and be home in time for dinner,

one more time out in the canoe,

and a swim across to the distant shore,

plain as day on the other side, not that far

when you’re six and almost seven

and the Pokémons, come to life, are hiding

in the grass and rocks and skittering

across the lake to battle, their powers

evolving because that’s what they do

and why don’t I know all these things,

all these things I used to know, long ago,

the details lost now in growing older, growing up,

familiarity tainting my perceptions of life

when you’re no longer six nor almost seven.