impermanence

seventy-three.

𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒆

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

give me playgrounds,
skinned knees,
missing teeth,
and wide grins

give me playing games,
boundless creativity,
a sunny afternoon

give me staying up til midnight,
an impossible task,
midnight snacks saved for morning

give me cold pizza,
that tasted like freedom

give me sleeping between my parents,
still being small enough to fit

give me rainy days at school,
watching movies at lunch

give me easter egg hunts,
running little legs,
a breathless resounding joy

give me swimming pools,
staying in the shallow end,
and not wanting to leave

give me my favorite stuffed animal,
let dad read us books,
and we'll act them out

give me pretending to be asleep,
book pressed to my chest,
just to see how my parents react

give me more time to read,
less homework on weekends

give me simple math problems,
the kind i can solve on both hands

give me best friends,
who i see every day,
stand by my side every day

give me the kind of anger that vanishes,
not even a memory left,
your friends are too nice for that

give me a blanket,
that smells like my grandma's soap,
so i remember her smile when i'm away

give me my sister and i,
doing everything together

give me library books,
a librarian who mixes up our faces,
and calls me your name instead

give me packages of cookies,
from the convenience store,
next to my daycare

give me water shoes,
apple taste tests,
and holiday activities with crafts

give me birthday parties,
sugary purple frosting,
a goodie bag held in hand as we leave

give me painting fairy houses,
and dancing to the music,
being the last to fall asleep

give me the ability to talk to new people,
to find our similarities,
and to speak to them without fear

give me back innocence,
strip me of my guilt

give me the simpler times,
give me that ease again,
that sort of beauty

my birthday is is eight days,
give me a face i recognize,
give me childhood back