And we were endless.
*
*
We ran until we forgot that we were running
our souls lifted and twisted and shifted
and became the air, the plants, the soil,
the sweat on your temple
the dust under our shoes, remember
the time when running around was all
that we do? It was as if we were chasing
sunsets; those fleeting moments
where the sky turned into the colour of
your cheeks, and your hands, and your brown
golden-flecked eyes under sunlight
when we kicked all the rocks we saw
and screamed at the rushing water.
The riverbank felt endless.
All the stars were bright and shining,
and the moon was so round
like she had never been imperfect.
The kids stayed happy.
I wished we could frame this moment
and put it in our pocket; a little snippet
of infinity we stole, carefully cut
into the shapes of our silhouettes, separated
from the expected lifetime of growing up,
growing old, growing expected, and dying.
We would glue it head to tail,
like a mobius ring, and sprinkle on
so much glitter we would have them
on our clothes and in our hair for weeks.
And in this ring we would spend lifetimes
chasing sunsets. I wondered if you would want
the same thing, having our little paradise,
and living in that bubble. We never leave Eden,
we never eat the apple. The day you left town
I stayed at the riverbank reading your letter.
I didn’t cry much; the winds were strong, the river
rushing, I screamed at it until my lungs exploded,
and my body exploded, and suddenly
I was old, and my soul was tired of running,
and we were no longer kids.
We would never be again.
*
Fri, 23/12/2022.
Ant.
Sesame Tofu 