Summer Days

Summer days never seemed long enough to fill my body

Sometimes I would imagine I was out late dancing with the sun

Rays tickling my skin as my hips move to Calypso

Breeze holding on to the curls of my untamable hair

Before passing by

I guess that is the way many things in life behave...

People hold you for a short time before they leave

And you are left with your fingertips gripping the Earth

Your palms whispering prayers to the dirt underneath

As if to say,

“Dear Gravity, I am looking for you to keep me here.

Don’t let me float away. If I drift, give me something soft to come down to”

Days like these

With birds laughing in a humid sky

Reminds you how beautiful this all is

To be alive

To be alive and breathing

To inhale the words of lovers lost

And still have their taste on your tongue

To dream about all your memories

All you have done and have yet to do

In this life

In this fleeting summer

So you make a list

With your feet grazing in a cool pond

You write down all the things you will do this summer

You tell yourself that this one won’t go to waste

You know how precious time is

And all that time brings with it

So you make a list

And keep it in your pocket so you can’t forget

And as the nights continue

With you watching fireworks on the beach

With you and your mother making roti in a crowded kitchen

With you and your sister humming with fireflies

With  sweet dreams kisses under constellations you still don’t know the names to

You forget about the list

And all that is expected

Forget about all you have to do to get where you want to go

The steps you will have to take to make it there

All of that becomes mist

A quick drizzle blessed to you in the blazing heat

An adventure with the New York Skyscrapers

An evening cuddled up next to your grandmother

Gospel on the radio

As she sings “I love you, my beloved. My dear…”

As she sings “I love you, my sweet. My beautiful…”

As she sings

And you hug her tighter

And don’t let go

by Ashley Croker-Benn