everything was a game,
and no matter how cold it got, or how few of us there were,
we always played.
Sometimes the big kids were too cool for the little ones.
Sometimes the big kids couldn’t have fun without the little ones.
We played the classics--tag, hide and seek, sardines--
we also created our own games
of cops and robbers; big kids against the little kids.
The jail was always by the big hill.
When the younger ones got older,
we welcomed them in with open arms;
the big kids never got older.
Sometimes we were on teams.
Sometimes we ran and hid alone.
But always we were together.
Until they built a fence and blocked the hill,
and we all moved away,
or grew up,
and the only games we played
were in our heads.
