"I Was a Ragamuffin Once"

Shreveport, La - This is a poem I originally wrote June 22, 2005 while resting in my bunk at Wind River Ranch in Estes Park, Colorado. I never published it - until now.

"I Was a Ragamuffin Once"

By Winston A. Hall

I was a ragamuffin once

upon a childhood tide

floating and toting the essence of innocence

and doubting not my place in the world.

To bear the cross, the grace no less

of a season born of freedom

To scale limb by limb, onward toward the sky

and then to perch among the banded wings about me and breathe.

I was a ragamuffin once

against a guilded sky

and toward them gazing on eternity.

Knowing but not seeing my God

amidst the hues and painted in the sky.

And then, to plunge into the deep waters

from on high , and oh the exhiliration of stepping out

and falling only so far and rising through the bubbles

always looking toward the light.

I was a ragamuffin once

with feet so scarred and scraped

by missteps and miscues amid thorns

and etched with stone and moss.

And still this day, when

clocks tick on and I, I the aging vessel dream,

I see myself there in that place of shade and stream.

For I, I was a ragamuffin once

young and alone with time to only be.

Soon I will return again - home.

Ang again I will be free.

That's the story of my life...