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Valerie Owens
Beneath the tent of summer sheets,
sisters share whispered secrets of
fading heartaches,
and budding romances
and floating dreams.
The same sisters
tie up autumn’s phone lines
with the latest gossip
and news of school days
and weekend dates
and escapades with roommates.
They count down the weeks
until winter’s vacation
will bring them together again,
when, under the glow of Christmas’s tree
they talk late into the night
of the beautiful things
and days gone by.
Spring rings with news
swapped between the two
of Saturday adventures,
April downpours,
and dreaded finals.
Seasons will follow seasons.
The years will fall softly away,
piling upon one another,
like October’s leaves in the loose
chill of the wind.
How one’s heart aches
for days of
dreaming away summer
beneath the warm blue sky
with the soft grass at the feet
of sisters.
Or, the schooldays of autumn,
hopscotch and skinned knees at recess
and spending lessons
gazing out the window
in sweet reverie.
Oh to sled through winter again,
together,
with a carol on your lips,
face rosy from the cold,
and laughter bright in white afternoon!
And to remember the scent of spring,
blowing dandelions into the May wind
and sailing off as one
on the wings of a wish.
How one longs for the sweet by and by,
childhood,
spent by a sister’s side.
And the present day glides away
and what once was will never again be.
Would one exchange
an eternity of childhood
for the future unknown?
How fragile a flight we’ve flown!
What speaks to you of childhood?
