High School

Dedicated To: those who are now in High School and to those who have been.

Diploma: by Mica Hart @pixabay.com.
by tkbrown
Tis the month when school bells begin to ring
even though the virus is surging again.

Teachers, students, classrooms,
binders--three ring,
notetaking, not writing, something akin
to mega seminars--and yet it's more--
with old friends, new friends,
and many new plans,
not enough time,
no energy left at end of day.
Crawling into bed--
out like a light--
the backs of my eyelids
such a beautiful sight.

All too soon morning light peeks in
reminding of needs to be met.

A brand-new day, an old routine
with advanced equations,
how to calculate sine.

What happens later
midst well-laid plans
was not intended--
it was not planned--
protect my heart from this 'start.'
I do not understand
how it managed to rend
the innermost core
and alter who I am.

New emotions running deep,
welling up, unable to keep
them in.

Sensations flowing new and free
at the chance, passing sight of thee--
concentration and focus have all but flown
out the open window where seeds have been sown.
The future is out there, unsure as to where
this path of emotions is leading--
the person I was
taking steps toward
the one I will become.

That first High School band
marching on the field
to enrich experience at halftime
for those watching, marching,
and me.
Do others feel the same?
Is the aura surreal?
Does it show on my face--
this awesome new feel?
One day at a time--
sometimes just an hour--
seems such a waste of rhythm
when my mind is speeding ahead
toward the end of these four."

Can I wish my life away
and be sure I will remain
the person I was
when I stepped onto this train?

Maybe I should
step back for a bit
to catch my breath
before I take . . . a run for it.
High School.

~~~~~~~~~~

Photo Above: Gundula Vogel @pixabay.com.

~~~~~~~~~~

Summer 2021

~~ a seasonal quindecim

by tkbrown
Summer, in all its splendor, ushered in--
crowning the longest day just 'ere mid-year--
with promises to warm the soul within
and the body without as days grow shorter
bit by bit with warmer days yet to be.
Gardens are bursting with good food to eat
fresh--raw or cooked, flavors only set free
when plucked from the stalk in the summer heat
of early morn--cooled by lingering night.
Refreshing dips in a freshwater pool
during the heat of day are such delight
to the body, render balm to the soul.
Memories built with family and friends
o'er barbeque or picnic fare attends
to those leaving as summers fun time ends.

The longer days and shorter nights will blend
some of the best daytime activities
to be carried in thought as life doth send
loved ones to local schools or overseas,
beginning new chapters in books mostly
yet to be written as steps lead away
from home fires. Embracing new life boldly,
with surety closely akin to the sway
of limbs on a tree waving in the breeze--
ruminations of failure never piqued
by fear, remorse, or guilt provoking pleas
through rife cajoling whether squawked or shrieked.
Emboldened by new friends in new places
standing out 'midst a sea of new faces
where past life is leaving no bold traces.

Graduations, weddings and moving top
summer lists for vacation reflection.
Those completed, checked-of, doing the flip
as packing moves to a higher section
amid lives taking a new direction.
Not seeing the void in lives of others
who must now find some substitute function
to insert where newly loosened tethers
flutter freely, blown hither and thither,
refashioning purpose at each new whim--
until satisfied with some new dither
utilizing free flowing excess vim.
Activities of summer dawn an ardor
determined by planned point of departure
and designed to nurture exit fervor.

~~~~~~~~~~

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