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On Barnegat Bay, N. J.

July 1993

Crabbing

Tiffany and the girls

are playing with a blowfish

all but Melanie

she's curled up in the back of the boat

afraid.

I never should have said

"He can bite off a finger."

even jokingly.

Well they've caught their first crabs

been on their first boat ride.

I was six or seven

the first time I went crabbing.

My father was still alive.

Uncle George had the house in Seaside Park

and Gay and I would spend our summers

playing in the surf, riding the waves,

digging under and going on the boardwalk,

crabbing.

They were carefree days

those summer days of my youth

those days spent between the ocean and the bay.

Days I'd go back to if I could

but time has locked the door.

Oh! I can still see them

through Tiffany's eyes

Love them with Melanie's heart

I can even live them again

when the children jog my memory

and I close my eyes.