we immortal three

we were YOUNG
and on FIRE with our youth
we set everything we touched to flame
with our passionate curiosity
and graceless love.
we weren't afraid to
burn & burn & burn,
after all -
we were YOUNG
and sure to stay YOUNG forever.

barefoot, snaggle haired,
WE IMMORTAL THREE
roamed the hills
with sunshine in our pockets
and empty-promise-filled houses
at our backs.

I needed no others -
only my courageous brother
who took on every obstacle
with sternly furrowed brow and firm tenacity,
and my laughing sister whose glance
put the world a-tumble.

I would head the expeditions,
as the creator, the dreamer, the builder of adventures
villains, torment, and salvation.
I would lead the way
with shouts of such vicious cheer
I secretly trembled to hear my own voice.

brandishing our bent and knobby stick swords
before us,
we beat back the tall heat-yellowed grass
that had finally recovered
from our last assault
and risen up, tentatively at first,
and finally with pride
reaching with longing
for the late September waning light.

we did not pause for creeks -
we crossed them with vigor!
trees did not deter us -
we climbed up &up & up
and over them,
if they dared to stand in our way.

when we tired -
we rested,
pressing the dirt pebbled soles of our feet together,
staring up at the titian blue sky
musing in silence -

silence the only language necessary between we three,
because the only words we needed then were -
ONWARD
and
I WILL SAVE YOU

we had not learned the many ways to say
"retreat" yet,
we could not see the futility of
attempting to save anyone besides ourselves.

when we grew hungry -
we ate,
passing around carefully hoarded sweets
from the dusty pockets of our faded jean shorts,
plucking bee scented berries from bushes
to eat one by one with unrestricted relish;
we immortal three feasted while summer shared
it's plentiful bounty.

yes -
we were IMMORTAL and daring
and fearful of none
while the sun pet our browned faces,
wove her way into our blond locks,
lit the way into the mossy depths
of the thick pine woods around our home.

our fear, our caution, our reality
returned only when she sunk her head
below the western horizon
and we, with tightly constricted throats,
scrambled down the needle thick path toward home.

as we cleared the final tress
and saw our home looming
white, dust speckled, heavy lidded
in the clearing
my right hand would take my sister's left hand
for just one moment
and I would squeeze, oh so lightly,
softly, with tender mercy,

I would squeeze my message -
ONWARD
and
I WILL SAVE YOU

thus fortified,
we IMMORTAL three
dropped our swords,
our cloaks of invisibility,
our esoteric knowledge of the forrest

and humbly entered the gawping mouth of our house,
letting the door close behind us,
blotting out the very last shimmering gasps of twilight.

***********NOTE*************
There were so many years that I didn't have a way to justify who I was and what I was. People would ask me what I "did" or what did I plan to "do" and I could only think I'm just BEING now, how can I even begin to DO when I am still learning to BE?
And now I DO. I do all day long. When people ask what I "do" I have a response. It may not have been what I envisioned for myself but I finally feel a little more grown up when asked that question. I can't say that this is what I will do in years to come; for now it is what I do though. What is hard for me to reconcile myself with is the loss of being that comes with doing. I spend so much of my time doing what needs to be done that the things that I once loved are put on the back burner and I do not feel like I am fully myself these days. I'm sure, in a few years, I will reach the point where I can balance being and doing and finally become a whole person ..... until then, I can only steal moments to be, and to do, what I love most of all.

So, while I don't "write" because I ain't a damned writer, I'm a manager (apparently) as life has proved - thank you to those who have always encouraged me to do and be what I love.