Poem: Summer of ‘96

We were free;

We ran, we skipped, we played,

And how we sang

Through sun-kissed fields.

Those endless days

Adorned with the naivety of youth

We searched we scoured we spread

our wings were restless

our will was wild

we found company with them

wizened; wise

the wasted

years

had left their bitter marks

upon their butchered arms

And we turned

To them

For answers: quizzed them, watched them, followed them,

enveloped our seeking souls among them

our empty selves, like mooring vessels

Found something

new in something old, something damaged

Something lost

Something now gone

Those goblin men

Forgotten?

Buried

What was learnt? What got burnt?

Just fun, but more too

Exploration and adventure. We found

the radical in our mundane

We, together, ventured out alone.

In a place of childhood we grew, cultivating danger among the bushes

that grew and hid and overgrew and threatened

And were torn down

Abandoned

Banished

To the wild woods of memory; of thorny fairytales

Nothing more than shadows cast

By the latent summer sun

As our curfews came and went

As the day drew to a close

the imprints remained

and we’re alright

The mood the laughter

Coming home

Losing control, while gaining

A freedom that would hold me prisoner;

As You came and left again

Those sacred days You gave me.