Scout Law

Posted on April 4, 2016 in Childhood Poems

A Scout is…

Trustworthy
as Steve Casmus who chopped
a hole in the ice with an ax,
dropped it in,
and blamed it on me.

Loyal
to my peers
who swore in secret
and smoked behind the outhouse.

Helpful
to the Girl Scouts.

Friendly
except
to the bullied,
the lonesome,
and boys who cry.

Courteous
when talking to adults
rude when mocking each other
or the Scoutmaster
when he was asleep in his tent.

Kind
as the guy
who ridiculed me
for the way I didn’t part my hair

Obedient
when others were
and when it suited me.

Cheerful
when I climbed steep hills
listening
my heart pounding
from a defect unseen.

Thrifty
for no other reason
than my parents paid me
fifty cents a week

Brave
as the guys who attacked me
because they knew I was strong
as a manatee,
taking their blows quietly,
without resistance.

Clean
as the dust that spotted me
through my khaki pants.

Reverent
until my faith died
in a tent, telling dirty jokes
at a Catholic retreat.