Water Always Pleases Children

I remember running

miles holding the lines.

The canal men coming

back from Albany,

from Utica. Boats

full of coal and wheat,

bricks and maplewood.

We'd follow up James

Street near Erie

Boulevard. It

pleases me to talk

about being young.

Did you know this was

all swamp once?

We loved to watch

the barges get weighed.

Winters Robert and Bill

Gee roped the

canal from Clinton

to Salina and charged

for skating.