We’re like kids
running under shooting
red fire hydrants,
us, standing
in transparent tanks & heavy shorts
under our home’s gutter drain.
“My turn,”
I remember you say
but I don’t move.
Instead,
I close my eyes &
remember mom, twirling
in her long denim-blue dress
on our porch
under the rain.
Mom would take us
outside in the rain
to bathe
together, wrapped in baby-soap suds;
thunder & murky clouds
no longer frightening.
Under the gutter drain
you nudge my nine-year-old waist
with your seven-year-old hand.
I open my eyes
& meet yours,
my love for you overflowing.
I moved aside
for you
under the gutter drain,
as mom moved
on our small back porch,
making space to twirl with her.
We never bathed in the rain again
but I remember feeling
free as bird--
you always knew something
about starling murmuration,
I’m just beginning to learn;
I shouldn’t have
moved
aside,
I should have
shared space
with you.
(lyrics from As long as I've got you by The Charmels)
Comments