Unadulterated
suze allen
You peddle like crazy
on the rutted dirt road
to your cousins’ house
Throw your bicycle down
On the green-brown mud grass of April
The black metal handlebars
with the thick rubber around the ends
Slant into the soft ground
Point to the cumulus clouded blue sky
The top pedal spinning to a stop
As you race up the steps to the screened-in porch
Bang open the door
Ready to play, ready for fun
Ready to receive the joyous welcome
that rushes over you
grinning from ear to ear
What blast of possibility and imagination await you
In this non electronic day?
All day I catch glimpses of you all
run inside then outside
throw balls, collect moss and sticks
chase each other thither and yon
shriek and whine
giggle and grouse
Outside then inside
Slam goes the door, and you are out of sight
Still the air holds a memory of you
It ripples around the fresh daffodils in your aunties’ garden
Holds your ever moving arms, goosepimply from the brisk spring
Topples around the dead leaves floating up then down
To your dashing feet
Wafts the scent of your freshly washed
Faintly sweaty tee shirt
The island sun fades to gray
As do you
Now just a snapshot
a home movie
Your bicycle is every child’s to me
All the moments despite being full blown
of love
Drift off into our rememberings
Informing the cells of the future you.
And the past cells of my childhood,
My children’s…
As the bike lays on top of everything that is or was.
Inanimate yet full of life
lives lived with flashes of unadulterated joy.