| Close my bittersweet eyes |
azalea
|
When raspberries begin to appear | 1 |
on the decaying fence in the alley, | 2 |
and the elms bloom into green-golden canopies | 3 |
that tower over our street, | 4 |
I find myself skipping barefoot over the warm asphalt- | 5 |
my blonde hair short again; my cheeks strawberry red. | 6 |
| |
I’d love to pick the juicy, ripe tomato | 7 |
that’s growing in our vegetable garden, | 8 |
and serve it to the backyard fairies | 9 |
on little china plates. I’d love to build | 10 |
a castle of sidewalk chalk, | 11 |
and stoop over my stiff piano keys, | 12 |
pounding my little heart out (through open windows) | 13 |
into those soft summer breezes. | 14 |
| |
I’d give it up to the tire swing | 15 |
and the creaking tree in your backyard; | 16 |
to Indian spices and sequined clothing; | 17 |
to a thousand ghosts in the graveyard. | 18 |
Back then, nothing had to make sense. | 19 |
Simply laughing together, while those sweet mango juices | 20 |
dripped down our chins in a sticky cascade | 21 |
was enough. | 22 |
Do you remember, you and I, | 23 |
climbing rugged trees in bare feet, and | 24 |
laying on dirty rooftops to watch | 25 |
midsummer night stars? | 26 |
| |
I’ll perch on the old wooden fence | 27 |
and unscrew the jelly jar, letting | 28 |
our lightning bugs fly away into the darkness. | 29 |
I’d love to scamper around the park with you, | 30 |
find all those fireflies, catch them in our bare palms, | 31 |
and put them back. | 32 |
But when I stumble up to your doorstep, | 33 |
you’ve forgotten to leave the front porch light on | 34 |
for me. | 35 |
| |
I’m staring at these old photographs in disbelief- | 36 |
was it not yesterday | 37 |
that we held each others’ immature hands, | 38 |
whispering below the misty glow of streetlights? | 39 |
Back when nostalgia didn’t radiate from | 40 |
your bedroom window, | 41 |
seeping into mine | 42 |
two houses away. | 43 |
Back when the scar of our friendship | 44 |
was a mere ripe cut- | 45 |
| |
Two houses away has never seemed so far. | 46 |
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