A Fraction of Time

Visions flood the images of my mind’s eye

Of a happy, charmed point in time so random

When things were simple and so carefree

And the child that was me laughed with ease and abandon.

The allure of the small, sweet birds flying above

The soothing sound and sight of the ocean’s roil

Bare toes mingling betwixt rough grains of sand

The feel of the warm sun on my shoulders that knew no toil.

The sweet taste of homemade peach ice cream

Or ripe watermelon juice running down my chin

The chitter-chatter of adults filling the silence

Laughter, ease, security – wrapped in youth's veil and ever so thin.

Nights spent gazing at the star-studded skies

Dreaming of lands so far away and distant

Knowing no bounds with how my life would twist and turn

And take me to places dreamed of with little or no resistance.

Life is so simple and sweet when one is young

The hinges of the doorways have not yet spread

Opening to things that seek to drag and pull us elsewhere

And from the places whence we were once so well-placed to tread.

Oh, but if I had known more then and seen what I've come to see now

I would slowed down with measured steps to smell the flowers

To listen, breathe, dance, and reap all that I could possibly sow

So that time would not seem lost within a fraction of mere hours.