Memory (poem)

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chase memory through the wildflowers

down by the stream and across the covered bridge

stand in the inbetween place – between sun and the shadow

and remember the dragonflies alight on lily-pads

florescent blue upon emerald green

Remember the feel of the worn sun bleached wood

as you slipped off your sandal to touch barefoot

and how you jerked it back up quickly with a hiss

but not before you felt the smoothness almost softness of the plank

Remember the smell of the water all around you

as stream fed the pond fed the lake that surrounds

and the smell of sun dried earth and freshly cut grass, drift

as a john deer moans across the path and down the hill a ways

its a Thursday, and you’re playing hooky and its summertime

and your young but not in love and so your burdens are light

and your skin is so much tighter, and your smile is still quick to wrinkle your nose

and easy as the warm day resting now upon your shoulders

Twenty one, maybe, no more than twenty three to be sure

open to everything and everyone around you at this tender age

Not knowing that this moment will be recalled days and laugh lines and gray hairs later

as if you were a dusty camera plucked off a shelf in the hands of someone who needs a smile

And perhaps you’ll only revisit this memory once

then again perhaps you’ll come back again and again

when the smell of cut grass, or the sound of water rushing

reminds you of that in between place when a moment you so quickly barely witnessed yet can recall so vividly

so much so you can almost feel the burning of your foot