I feel the sunshine kiss my face like an old friend

Like a coffee shop meeting

After a long time apart.

The warmth brushes past my face in faint traces

Of smiles and laughter and past graces

Bringing memories of days when we would play with grass stained knees

Eating berries from brambles and pinching our toes into shoes much too tall for us.

We clunked along

In those days full of sun.

When you’re here they seem so close.

I can feel the raspberry seeds stuck between my teeth

And taste the chill of frozen freezies dripping down my face.

The shadows slip away and those cumulus clouds fade from my mind

And I bask in the sun

Until you leave

And all I have is a coffee glass growing cold within my hands

The fading stain of your lips upon the rim.

Then, the cold comes creeping in

Smothering the light

Blanketing the brightness in silent uniformity

Eking out the pain of huddling in the tire swing alone

Of monkey bars I couldn’t cross

Bitter laughs

The color yellow

Banned

Mud forts we built stained our hands

Only to have them hosed down

It’s like waiting by the phone to hear your voice.

The weatherman calls for partial sun

But it never comes

And you never call

And the day remains gray.