We spent hot summer days with dirty tar feet

running wild through the neighborhood.

The trees would call our names

Begging us to come out and play.

Our giggles flowed through the wind,

Tiny footprints etched forever in the dirt.

By night our fingers were dyed red, white, and blue,

And our nails holding the essence of youth.

We had spirits like birds without grace being guided along.

We were brave and impulsive willing,

To live life in the little moments.

And finally seeing the world for the very first time,

Everything being an array of color,

Living our years in mossy greens and soulful yellows.

Our eyes saw a rainbow wherever we looked,

Letting our imagination run wild.

But, we were tricked!

When fall rolled around we all fell into the rhythm.

They taught us to feel in blue and gray,

And how to think in black and white.

The colors soon  faded away.

We lost our spirits, and no longer spent our

Summers with calloused hands and bright cherry lips,

Thinking this was as good as it would ever get.

And we were right.

Soon we lost those fun summer days.

Gone was our sense of adventure,

And life playing in streets,

Running home when the lights lit up the darkness of our faces.

The laughter died down,

And the jump ropes were discarded,

As if our presence was never even there.

People once asked, “Where’d they go?”

And the answer was simple, “They grew up.”