One Summer — A Poem of Childhood, Memory, and Time

@just.iammaria

she/her

Snapshot

The memory of you warms my heart.

Cold dark corners warmed by your light.

I remember the feeling,

the sound ,

the smell in the air,

the carefree laughter,

the orange-pink sunsets,

sun sinking slowly, like a sleeping giant.

The creaking rope on the swing as I watch the petals fall day by day,

signalling gently that my time is fading away.

Three days,

two days

one. . .

Time tightly grips around my heart,

I don’t want to be apart,

I felt it even then as a child,

moments were transient,

I was keenly aware,

that summer was ending there,

and the Bora came. . .

with it the dreaded last day.

It was time to go, and I remember you face as the car drove away,

the pain in your eyes, I cried and cried.

No more turning back, never again, would I see you as that girl,

the one that existed then,

the one that felt that way,

that day.

Looking back, it feels like a dream,

and I was that child,

who sang,

who danced,

pondered,

watched and felt.

You know I’ll never forget that summer, seeing you every day.

Now it warms my heart this memory, and it will never go away,

Those feelings, those moments I remember them now,

and the child awakens, smiles and waves.

This poem forms part of my ongoing creative research project I am Maria!, exploring memory, voice, and becoming through poetic practice. More artistic expressions in other forms maybe found here