by-Matthew F. Blowers III

Summertime shrinks

me to halcyon days,

as a young boy at play,

in the warmth of it's rays.

My mind slips free of its

cathedral of bone,

to the joys of my youth

in a place I called home.

Willow trees bid me

climb to the rooms

their limbs hold,

that seem so much

smaller now that I

have grown older

What wonders I pondered

in the crook of their shade,

where imagination wandered

in an endless parade.

Once I was a pirate

in a ship made of bark,

with a branch as a sword

plundering until dark.

I'd often play Tarzan

swinging high from that tree,

dropping down in a whoosh

to Jane waiting for me.

But my dear Jane was Dani

catty-cornered, next door,

my first love whose beauty

warms my heart evermore.

Innocence set the

boundaries for my soul

filled with bliss,

never going beyond

holding hands and a kiss.

I grew up in the projects,

thirty kids to each block,

but her blue eyes still haunt me

when I turn back the clock.

It's gone now, torn down,

a golf course took its place,

and each year when I walk

there I still see her face.

That's why God gave us

memories for moments we cherish,

endless chances to relive

the good times that perish.

Summer bids me return

during the splendor of June,

to dreams of my childhood

that were gone far too soon.

Willow Wisps. by Art-Whimsically Yours Studio | Suno