Hilltop high

She was fizzing with the same energy I once wasted
and no matter how hard I tried
I couldn’t seize what I had lost back then
The curves of her mouth,
her curls of hair dancing at the nape of the neck,
and her joy,
her joy!

She transported me
as if possessing the greatest comic-book superpower
I grew magical wings and flew to join a memory
a murmuration
swirling, surging masses -
a breathing wave circulating forgotten skies
sucking in the shattered fragments
exhaling a vivid dream once had

(These wrinkling hours, creased by the dusky half-light, forced me down.)

Yet seeing you up there on the hilltop –
with your flying-high kite, skipping the humps and hollows of life as if they weren’t there, your wind blowing towards me whispering my name, telling me a secret, showing me which way –
made me forget, made me forget,
and that was enough to make this life worth living.