Olivia!

How you laugh and dance,

barefooted, 

on the winter-white, blue-skied, snow and iceberged beach,

waves crashing, spume rising sunward,

tinkling down,

and how your eyes sparkle with joy, radiant smile.

How you love to tease and mock, 

make me squirm,

goad me into your world, "Come," you say. "Come!"

Laugh or cry, it's all the same to you.

No cold is too cold,

too much is never enough.

Everything life has to offer you take,

then cry out, "Please, sir, I want some more!"

~

Huck

(Huckleberry Finn)

Everyone thinks of me as trash,

and I reckon I am trash,

pitiful, neglected, in need of lye soap, a Bible,

and a Bible-thumpin' for good measure.

I don't care about all that.

I've lived with it long enough. I reckon I judge them

about as hard as they judge me. It's Becky

I'm thinkin' about. She can't,

or won't, look beyond what her eyes see.

She can't, or won't, see the man. I'm a good man.

Someday I'll prove it. For now,

Tom has her. He doesn't know what he has,

nor does he appreciate her. He takes a lot for granted,

and pokes fun, and has fun.

He's had a few knocks, but nothin' hard.

I'm a-leavin', but I'll be back, I'll be back for Becky.

I hope she grows up by then, I hope

she becomes the woman I think she'll become.

I hope she knows the difference between a man and a boy.

I hope she knows I'm the man,

and Tom—Tom will be a boy until the day he dies.