We hid the treasure
– the most wondrous prizes
we could imagine at the time –
on the beach
– the most wondrous place we knew –
which maybe wasn’t the best plan
with the surf constantly coming in,
wiping away any marker we might put up.
Idiocy was high
for we were young
and living in an age of idiots
but we didn’t know it
because of the aforementioned youth
– and the idiocy (duh).

The prizes were Cracker Jack variety
so maybe their loss
is no great loss,
or maybe the next kids
who found the treasure, years later,
saw it with the same pirate-patched eyes
with which it was buried away
that special (short bus special) summer day.

Possibly
the treasure is still out there
waiting to be uncovered,
sans marker, map
or memory.
Tell you what:
you get a shovel
and I’ll get a pail…