Blue Mountain Arts Poetry Contest

That Summer
by Amanda Hale

Second Contest
SECOND Place

I flip through the pages of my memory, and there we are.
Tucked gently away 
and always near 
is that summer.

It was a summer of magic...
A summer of craziness
A summer when anything was possible.

A time when we knew no boundaries and saw no limits.
A time of friendship and laughter and tears.
When faith really was something we could touch,
and if one of us fell, the rest of us were there to catch him.

The circle was unbroken,
and nothing we could say or do was beyond forgiveness.
We fought, we cried, we played, we prayed.
We believed, we doubted, we loved, we pushed.

We watched endless movies, we played Truth or Dare.
We had all-night talks and co-ed sleepovers.
We worked jobs we hated
We danced til we were dizzy
It all meant nothing, 
and everything.

Looking back now
it's easy to see...
It was the last moments of our childhood.
God gave us this gift, this precious gift
This last summer to be together as one.

If we had known how quickly things would change,
would we have stayed up later?
Said the things we really wanted to say, yet couldn't?
Danced one more time?
Played one more song?
Hugged a little tighter?
Held on a little longer?

Soon, summer turns to fall...

One by one, 
we get married...
graduate...
move away...
grow apart...
CHANGE.

But one thing will always remain the same.
This journey, this detour, this road we traveled together
the memories we made
the laughter we shared
The precious imprint we left upon one another's lives...

As the leaves of autumn began to fall,
and then the snowflakes of winter drift slowly down,
and soon become the fresh rain of spring...

Between the pages of our memories
Tucked gently away
and always near
is that summer.