A spring-like day beneath the sun
we biked along a cobbled road.
Side-saddled just behind my seat,
you laughed and urged my dog to run.

Wind-lassoed tendrils of red hair
flapped out like pennants from your face
as ruffles of your crimson skirt
slapped at bare knees, but did you care?

We journeyed on an hour or two
before you spied the daffodils.
"Let's pick them for our moms!" you cried.
We filled my basket with a few.

A river moseyed quietly
as we rode through alfalfa fields.
From arching bridge we saw huge carp
swirl into pools they could not flee.

While watching them, I heard you say,
"Oh, Petey, how I pity fish
and all poor creatures trapped or caged
that never get a chance to play."

Long flown those breathless days of youth,
that joie-de-vivre and innocence.
Such freedom we shan't know again--
a painful, sad, unpleasant truth.