The square was filled with sand.
Toys for building castles and moats,
The sun bathed the young girl’s
Skin until it burned,
But she never noticed – her friends
Pulled her into the shade
Of the dangling willow tree.
Falling dewdrops construed as fairy
Dust in a jungle of vines that
Always met winter too soon.
Gel pens and coin purses,
Swing sets at recess.
Every Thursday at Samantha’s house,
The old red barn hiding
Adventures. An excitement
Only because it was forbidden.
But we stayed inside;
Glasses reflecting the glare
From computer screens where we were turned
Into tycoons.
Sterile white hallways
Met their match in the form of a stampede.
So many eager students transformed
Into environmentalists –
Incandescent lights were killing
Their souls. Cliché cliques made no effort
To hide their disdainful insecurity.
Laughter targeted at
Never with, and the slow descent
Into adolescence
Began and ended at the exact same moment.
Two thousand and five gave the hottest summer
In years;
The air was light and full of effervescent laughter.
A best friend with a home
Of blankets and cigarette smoke. A friendship evolves
In sunshine. A relationship crafted
From clouds. A family made of strangers.
The call of the Midwest was too strong
For her family to deny. The car was pulling
Her away. The sun shone deceptively bright.
The damp summer twilight
Providing the wrong setting
For this ending.
He said it would be like the tide
Like he had never existed at all,
And the porch light tugged on him
As he retreated into darkness.
The terrain had changed and we realigned
Our trajectory – the final
Leg of our journey
Was beginning. Reunion
Of childhood friendships,
Birthday candles and turned on bulbs,
As we reached across the aisles
Passing notes and sharing answers
We were never really sure of. Time
Passes and we can’t claim the seconds
As ours when we beg for time to pass quickly and simultaneously halt.
No amount of light could prolong
The inevitable, but we are counting
Down the days until the clouds expose
The sun.
