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Did you possibly imagine (you couldn’t have)

On that youthful, sun-dappled afternoon,

The rays of an ancient light caressing your skin & inspiration, when you were

A skipping stone striking at the perfect angles & gaining your balance,

Amusedly & perfectly crossing a warm stream at the edge of town,

The water fresh and the fences down,

Driving home after closing time…

The years marking your skin in ways the Great Depression & the

Enemy marked your psyche, past an abandoned brewery,

Seeing the quiet streets coming up fast like a flood, silent as a submarine,

Balancing on wet stones, laughing as you splashed & driving home

After closing time, to a lonely house, impervious to depth charges,

Past the dislodged bricks of the abandoned brewery,

Imagining that sun-splashed afternoon & shallow, sparkling water,

Your children crossing streams within darkened rooms,

Finding their balance, in ways the enemy

Marked your psyche & warm afternoons caressed your inspiration,

An ancient star illuminating quiet streets, starlight splashing,

Streaming into and beyond abandoned spaces,

Rays of an ancient light driving you home.