Moonstone Beach

            -1-

We often went to Moonstone Beach

To spend a Saturday,

Down in South Kingston we would go

Complete with lunch and gear,

To get away from work and school

And give us all a break,

So off we’d go to the south shore

To frolic in the sand.

We’d park the car on Moonstone Road

And pick up all our gear

Then make the hike into the beach

Through hot, hot sand and stones

But stop to soak our feet a while

In water at the bridge

And then we’d go across the dunes

To set up on the beach.

My children played on Moonstone Beach

In sand – and water too

They’d build a mountain out of sand

Then watched the rising tide

As it demolished all they’d built

With just a wave or two

And then they’d lie upon the beach

To sunburn or to tan.

            -2-

There was a pond behind the beach

Where Jeff and Jon and I

Would often catch some big blue crabs

On fish heads cast out deep.

Then after waiting for a while

We’d slowly pull it in

And catch the crabs that were attached

With a long handled net.

We’d fish that way until we’d caught

As much as we could eat

A bushel basket’s what we had

And when that was half full

We’d cover up the basket tight

Then pick up nets and lines

And set the crabs in water deep

Until the time to leave.

We’d often wander down the beach

To watch the great white swans

That paddled so effortlessly

Around the salty pond

Catching minnows and tiny frogs

And small green crabs as well

Then soaring off as swans will do

Their flight so beautiful.

            -3-

Some days, the ocean was dead calm

Without a trace of haze.

We’d look far out to sea and catch

Block Island’s shining cliffs.

It was then that little ones could

Get wet up to their chests,

With little fear of being bumped

By the incoming waves.

Sometimes we’d watch the ferry boat

Leave the Point Judith side,

And on an ebbing tide would head

For the Block Island dock.

She’d travel fast down through the gap,

Then past the breakwater,

And if there was a little fog

She soon would disappear.

On days when waves were four feet high

The older kids and I

Would sometimes dive right through a wave

To catch the next in line

Then use that wave to body surf

And ride it into shore

Then when we tired of having fun

We’d lay down in the sand.

           -4-
Now when we all had had enough

Of sand, and surf, and sun

We’d pack up all our gear again

Along with crabs and nets

And make the hike back to the car

Each carrying a share

And though it was late afternoon

We’d head up to Beach Pond.

Once there we all would jump right in

To wash off salt and sand

Then after eating leftovers

We’d change into our clothes

Then watch the sunset in the west

Until the sun was gone

And at the whip-poor-will’s first call

That’s when we’d leave for home.

            -5-
Each year we went July the Fourth

When water warmed enough

To swim and loaf around the beach

Without our wrapping up

And often met the Bates there

To spend the day with them

And when the sun was getting low

‘Twas then that we would go.

But on the Fourth we always watched

The fireworks galore

We’d go to Roger Williams Park

They had the very best

We’d park the cars where we did work

In Narragansett’s lot

And watch from there for we could see

As well as anyone.

And when the fireworks were done

We’d leave to go back home

We'd say goodbye to our best friends

With whom we’d had much fun.

When we got home we’d carry kids

So very sound asleep

From all of our activities

But mostly Moonstone Beach.

           -6-

And once we went to Moonstone Beach

But did not go to swim

For it was later in the year

We'd had a hurricane

We went there then to watch the waves

Come crashing in to shore

They breached the pond where we caught crabs

And left a big dead shark.

We marveled at those giant waves

Caused by the storm that missed

Rhode Island by some sixty miles

Yet caused such havoc here.

The swans were gone, we know not where

The crabs had drained to sea

The beach was littered with debris

And sand had washed away.

Thus after viewing all the change

We hoped that by next spring

The waves would wash away the shark

And clean up the debris

Then close the breach made to the pond

So crabs would grow anew,

And make again our Moonstone Beach

The place we used to know.