[to the f u t u r e]

It still comes as a surprise, how much time we share. Oh, sorry, not you we. We dear-my-friend and I, and don’t you two know each other? His self-described nomadic lifestyle both gave you a relationship and strained it. But I started out about something else you know—time. Specifically the time he makes to wait to talk to be kind. All of it is good and right down to my bones. Even, would you believe, the time he takes to leave me.

7
Dad caught, twirled, and set Mrs. Taylor on her feet at the other side of the room. Brodie had to steady her. She looked small between them, although she must have been close to my height. Do I, too?
“But this is wonderful!” Lydia Taylor said between breaths. “And overdue.” In all the times she scolded Brodie in front of me, I never saw her do so with such a wide, lovely smile. I expected her to burst into song.
“Whatever kept you was too cruel.”
“Time. Just time.” Dad smiled the way other people blink back tears.

6
I saw why we had taken a tumble on our exit. Brodie’s wooden front door was raised on a concrete step. The time machine door had also raised, but hinged itself half a meter too far left for the step. The two doors matched except for one detail. Where my eyes met a flower-etched panel of foggy glass on Brodie’s dark door, our time machine had the “translator key” watch. I could see the metal socket from the backside of the open door as well as the front.

*I don't know what made me think of this today, but here's what came of it...*

It was green, I remember,
fields stretching long,
and bushes hunched together
blackberries

It was stone, I remember,
statues, steps, path
grass growing through the cracks
and the pool full of our reflections
and tadpoles

It was damp, I remember
on a cloudy day under sweeping trees
reaching high with rustling leaves,
and the little house in the shadows with cobwebby sills
chasing, running

Life is not a bowl of cherries
round and sweet and red
It's not a box of chocolates
where you don't know what you'll get

You can describe life just like
all the foods you like to eat
But I bit right into life
and found it bittersweet.

I shall miss your utter stupidity,
even though it used to annoy,
I shall miss you living under my bed,
even though you chewed up my toys

You made me feel safe,
and hid during thunder,
You jumped on my bed,
and messed up my covers

You smelled and you shed,
you barked constantly,
you tore up the carpet,
(who cares, it was ugly)

You were a nanny,
a wolf, and a babysitter,
a reindeer, a horse--
(a real derby winner)

I found an old video I made over a year ago with this song as the background music! So now I can share how it sounds with the music. :)