In 1998, can you remember?
The morning glories blooming golden yellow in the sun,
Daddy loaded the van with picnics and Mommys thinnest sheets.
And we pulled away from home gladly.
Willingly.
Ready for a change, any change.
A gorgeous day with promises hanging like ripe fruits in the air,
Waiting to picked and savored one by one.
Dusty throats watered by tangy lemonade cold and fresh in the cooler.
Necks burnt red, our badges to wear with pride.
And when that blessed sun finally gave up and died on the horizon,
We would be hauled indoors screaming and crying for five more minutes, five more minutes!
Youth held us in its golden grasp
And even now, years, no, decades later
I am unwilling to escape from the promises of sun, dust and skinned, bloody knees
That it dangles so temptingly in front of my newly mature nose
Only five more minutes, five more minutes.
Five more minutes in 1998