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