The Girl Next Door

Do you remember
Many years ago
When we were young
How we used to play together
Every day?

It seems like yesterday
The childhood world of clowns
And cotton candy
Warm summer days
That never seemed to end

We would play hide-n-seek
From 4pm til dusk
Then sat on someone's stoop
Listening to the crickets

We'd catch lightning bugs
Talk about our dreams
About what we'd do when we grew up
Until our mothers called us in

Do you remember that one winter
When it snowed for days and days on end
We tried to build an igloo
Like the eskimos

Or when we swam in my pool
Around and around
Until we'd make a whirlpool
How about the time
We drew the beach on my driveway
With chalk
And pretended we were really there

The grand day when finally
The training wheels came off our bikes
We were free to explore the whole world in an afternoon
So long as we stayed on our own street

But those days passed quickly
And we grew bigger, as children do
Until we reached a day when we assumed
That we were too grown to play on the swings on summer nights

When I see you now
You've changed in ways I can't explain
You're like a rose that bloomed before its time
I see you pacing back and forth
From the window in my room

And when a car pulls up outside
You run downstairs and out the door
With a suitcase in each hand
The car speeds away
And the girl next door is gone

Still I long for those childhood days
When I stood on your laundry room stoop
Banged on your door
And bade you to come outside
To greet the afternoon's adventures

Allison, won't you come out and play once more?
For we are still so young...

written 9.98