By Joe Gorman

Dedicated to Edith Perry Barber (As published in the Windham County Transcript, 12/6/45)

I

Two quaint little maidens once lived by a stream

That winds through the hills and valleys between,

From Rhode Island state where first it had its birth

To Quinebaug valley the fairest on earth.

And often in childhood the two maidens ran,

Each one with a pole and bait in a can.

And many an hour the two would beguile

When they went fishing on the sleepy Five Mile.

II

They didn't catch whoppers as some people do,

But still they were great in their own childish view.

And many a shiner and punkin seed bright

Was lured from his haunts and was tempted to bite.

They watched their corks float as they sat on the bank,

And when they would bob they would each give a yank.

Ah, sweet childhood's hours with tear and a smile,

When they went a-fishing on sleepy Five Mile.

III

They had an old raft they used for a boat.

And like Noah's Ark it just managed to float.

With two sticks for oars they just paddled along

And bright summer days drifted by like a song.

Sometimes the raft would be clumsy to start,

And sometimes it happened to fall all apart.

And then there was laughing and splashing awhile

When they got a ducking in sleepy Five Mile.

VI

Ah, sweet childhood's long vanished it seems,

They come back oftimes just to haunt me in dreams

In slumber I drift back again through the years,

To wake with my pillow all wet with my tears.

Such memories are a treasure untold,

And in later years yield a harvest of gold.

Those sweet childhood hours with joy filled the while

When they went a-fishing on sleepy Five Mile.