the little boy who loved to slide down those stalactites
that hung for centuries and yet seemed so precarious
dangling through the sheer power of mysterious history
his arms would wrap the coarse crystalline surface
legs locked ankle over ankle
embracing the form made from time and water
skittering downward to the floor of the caves
that he would adventure through daily til dusk fell
accompanied by his scraggly mutts tail flittering
chasing those cave rats and flying rodents contently
adventuring with his best friend and owner where no one
had ever stepped foot before and soon would not again.
i never asked the boy how he climbed to the top of those stone structures
im sure he would never have dispelled his secrets to me.

he was always a secretive little boy
carrying a cave quartz formed naturally into the shape of a humpback whale
in his miniature pocket on his left hand side
a yellow pocket knife that his grandfather had bestowed to him on his right
the knife had been boned to prevent chipping on its face
its twin blades worn to half their original size from constant usage
and always dog biscuits in his back pockets for that scraggly mutt of his
the dog that had no name
as it followed his little master instinctively and without question
as if they were linked psychically through lifetimes of friendship
a union that was blessed since the imagining of unions.

that little boy who slid so freely through those caves
with that unnamed mutt ever present
would tell stories of hidden dragon bones buried deep in the wells of those caves
and of secret underground societies of subhumans who lived peacefully
far from the pressures of the above ground world
eventually never came back from one of his daily excursions
and the townsfolk wept out of fear of permanent loss.

a search party was assembled in the town hall two days after his disappearance
but found that the entrance to the cave had been blocked by boulder and rock
and again they wept for fear of his inevitable and slow demise
it was then amongst the tears and hysterical mourning that i
came across a rather queer find in front of that blockaded door to the cave
a cave quartz that was unmistakenly formed in the shape of a humpback whale
and i wondered-
what if his fantastical stories of underground societies werent so far off?
and i think about that little boy and his mutt to this day when i look at that quartz whale
and i wonder...
if i could un-bury that cave entrance and see for myself the world in which he now resides
or is it only in the mind and eye of a child can the wonders of a natural world be seen?
i smile now for you little boy
and i pray that your secrets are kept forever secret in that underground world.