The Mentors Of My Boyhood

They only live on now in my memory
The mentors of my boyhood in the flesh that I'll never more see
In cemeteries far north from here far away
In Mother Earth's bosom they forever lay.

For life in the big World me they helped to prepare
Their wisdom and insights with me they did share
Not wealthy and famous but wise, honest and kind
And better than they were would be hard to find.

They led by good example in the lives they did live
And though not financially well off they knew how to give
And good memories of them I will always retain
For as long as the breath of life in me remain.

Such wisdom and insights from them I did gain
And though in the flesh I won't see them again
The good and kind people I was privileged to know
In the place where into a young man I did grow.