Sometimes that old swingset gets to me,

But its rotting frame and the broken metal chains

And the pit where the kids used to dig their feet

Aren’t the only tragedies-

This is the same old bench I sat on

The last time I felt so defeated and incomplete

And lost in my own thoughts,

Looking for release from the heat-

And I climbed up high in one of those old oak trees,

Trying to escape the dead of the day

In the shade of its shriveling leaves,

But I never found peace.