Gifted are our memories. by MarciaMarcia

gifted are our memories”by 

                     MarciaMarcia

 

those happiest of sunny summer days, by the waters of the Cape, walking the streets past town shops 

eating lobster from a white bag held 

in laughter, 

speaking of life as only then, we knew it.

back at the beach, sitting together in our family’s group, talking endlessly of the Redsocks that year and the Beatles new songs still going strong, light hearted thoughts and too, serious songs of war, but all making music as our guitar strings

joined the gull’s voices and the ocean’s rushing surf

all our singing rising in joyous celebration of the day’s slow moving white clouds in a pastel blue sky. 

These afternoons filled with youthful joy and 

ocean’s water sweeping us together between the sandy dunes, as we rode waves, our cooled bodies feeling the freedom of movement’s innocence. 

    Then dusky summer evenings by the dunes, 

the soft sounding rhythm of the ocean waves, laying in the sand,  watching

the stars twinkling through the  moist evening mist,shooting stars

as the moon’s light enveloped us 

in its soft aura .

it’s as if I am on that beach again, now, 

standing long …..so long as we look, lost 

in each other’s eyes, 

breathing in night’s sweet scents, 

our hands meet gently , holding a moment’s pause in time…

you slowly raise our arms outstretched 

as if we could lift off 

together into the beyond 

feeling  our life’s energy swirling around us 

our feet seemingly leave the ground

in that space, 

In that place where

time stood still for us…for me…

nothing existed outside those moments,

the beginnings of our life’s mysteries. 

you were so beautiful

your face, your hair glistening black in the night’s light

your eyes hazel pools,

I lost myself in…..

in those eyes…..

your perfect mouth… your lips softly touching mine with such innocent sweetness. 

these moment’s of gentle youth turning us in slow spin

you raised our arms again

lifting us up… up

our feet left

the sands below and we  moved beyond that place, that space together, how long I don’t even know. 

and when we touched down again, hand in hand, we walked the beach where the water met the sand. 

  for a few magical weeks, each year, we shared our innocent dreams, all … while 

hot summer’s days melted into cool ocean swims giving way to starlit nights 

illuminating the wandering paths ahead of us

our feet playing in the sands while we walked and talked of things, all we might do with such time that was now before us. 

till one year’s summer….later,

we did not travel our family’s way,

to the water’s edge…

though all remained there…

the dunes may have changed in shape, the tides still ebbed and flowed, the sunset’s painting till the stars came out to twinkle in the misty evening dusk

and we…

we…

…did not return. 

time had its way with our youthful innocence. 

distance between us became too great a reach for hands to touch….

though I believe our hearts never did completely separate. 

we ventured back to the Cape years later

each of us 

with our new families, 

and realized so much of life and time had passed between us, while we lived our daily lives. 

I have carried you in my heart for all of these years, 

always believing that we were meant to be together. 

but for the timing of our stars, in our innocence, we might have been. 

Through the years, many family gatherings have brought us together for brief moments

and in those moments, 

again, and again, time stopped as

we looked deep into each other’s eyes 

our hands clasped 

once again and lifted. 

then……one day, 

one fall day…

you let my hands go and turned from me. 

I watched you walk away.  You wouldn’t look at me, so I 

I walked to you 

and gently lifted your face to see your beautiful eyes…

and…I knew 

I knew what our hearts had known a lifetime ago 

when we were so very young, 

It lived still, in your heart as well. 

    MarciaMarcia

    August 2020-2022