In September 2013, I had another really hard breakdown over my friend’s death. It lasted almost the entire month. I was also really struggling with health issues, etc. This poem came out of one of those moments of deep grieving. I lit a candle in her memory. And I wrote this poem.
I’m not going to say much about it, except that there is so much meaning wrapped up into these words. So many memories, so many dreams that were never fulfilled. Yet there is a sliver of hope even in the midst of all the loss. A choice that I will go on, I will live, I will follow those dreams, even though my Kindred Spirit cannot.
When We Were Young
When we were young,
We swung on swings and kicked our feet out into the stars.
We simply jumped, jumped out into the deep blue of the night
And stepped from star to star across the sky.
Swinging back and forth, back and forth, we leaped along the solar system
And we thought the world would welcome us with open arms.
*
When we were young,
We ran along the shoreline splashing, splashing the water
Sparkling in the moonlight and wetting our clothes.
We thought we could walk on water, our toes barely touching
Waves would rise, rise to meet us, and we’d bend time and space at our command
And we thought the world would welcome us with open arms.
*
When we were young,
We danced in fairy rings under the moonlight.
We held hands and circled, circled under the blazing starlight
And we laughed and felt magical and free and alive.
Something deep and mysterious danced among us
Filled us with light, light within and without, covering all we believed
And we thought the world would welcome us with open arms.
*
Then we grew up,
And I got a phone call one day that you were dead.
I saw you lying, lying in your casket, arrayed in blue
Blue like your eyes, the sky, the water, blue like our dreams.
Your empty smile was frozen, frozen on your face, cold and stiff
And I realized we were young no more.
And the world did not welcome us with open arms.
*
Now I grow old,
And you no longer walk beside me, kindred in all we dream.
But I must remember, remember the feeling of jumping into the sky
Of walking on the waters, of dancing in fairy rings.
The world tells me to reject those things, grief tells me to give up
Yet I will overcome, overcome slowly, over time
Someday turning back to the light within.
Photo by Adobe Stock/gilitukha
4 comments
This is a beautiful poem, very heartfelt. It made me think of my childhood, how innocent I was. As a child, I lived a carefree life and dreamed big. As an adult, the fears and worries of life seem to cripple us. Why do we live like this? Some of us get to live long lives but we waste it away in worries of what we don’t have. There are joys hidden in life. If we only seek for it, then we will find it.
Yes, I think that is so true. Adults often lose the will to dream and are crushed by the evil and worries of this world. I’m trying so hard not to become that kind of adult. I’m trying to still believe in things. It’s very hard, though. But I’m committed to finding the beauty and joy of life no matter how old I become.
“In innocence we lived, it was truth we did mourn. The reasons always existed, yet for ourselves would we have suffered? The cherished, once raw, untamed, spiritually primitive. Vintage, shabby chic, those days heal me. Long forgotten dreams, once real, haunt the memory of the dreamer”. Iesa
[…] Some of the most poignant and personal posts on Identity Renewed over the years have been poems. This one from February is possibly my favorite. It’s whimsical and sincere and very touching. You should also read Alive! (A Poem About Colorado) and When We Were Young (A Poem About Grief). […]