Swingset

I wish I could remember more

That long ago time of swingsets and slow walks. 

Of belly laughs from swinging high,

Of your little hand wrapped tightly around mine

As we walked a path of wonders.

I wish I could remember it all. 

I try to recall as I watch you and your wife, 

building a swingset, building a life.

And then,

Your little child tugs at my sleeve 

And presses her hand into mine. 

Sticks and stones

Dried up leaves, 

the tiniest of ants

Await her discerning brown eyes

As we leave you and your task behind

To slow walk a street of treasures. 

We turn towards home. 

Your work is done.

A swingset stands where 

once there was none.

Laid out before us on your lawn

Today’s delight, tomorrow’s memories.

The veil is lifted, but just a bit. 

Foggy memories of our yesterdays

Swirl about as I watch you and yours 

And remember me and mine.

In the movie in my mind

You, the towheaded boy, 

Your two sisters on either side,

Run to a long dis-mantled swingset

To swing and slide, 

To chase and climb.

And then my memory shifts 

As memories often do. 

You and your friends

Tossing a football, 

Bantering, joking,

Walking right past

A still and silent swingset

In pursuit of an older boy’s dreams.

Lost to all those years gone by

Is that very last time you asked of me

To push you higher and higher 

And yet higher again

So that you could claim your piece of the sky.

We celebrate in the waning sun 

As shadows stretch across the yard.

I take a picture of you and yours: 

your wife, your child, your tiny baby boy. 

Smiles around the swingset,

Sparkles in a little girl’s eyes.

You place her on the swing, 

remind her to hold on tight and push.

Yesterday’s laughter and today’s joy mingle in my mind 

As she stretches her little body towards the sun

And touches her toes to the sky.