Sitting at the river in the summer heat,
In the thick hot air of the desert
As the sweat trailed down our backs,
I couldn’t tell if I felt anguish or peace.
The quiet of the world when you’re in the middle
Of nowhere. When you can’t help but dip your toes into
The deep thick water that cools every nerve in your body
It’s like everything in the world is right
Like everything in the world makes sense
Like the heat doesn’t feel like heat
Like the people don’t feel like people
Like everyone is a part of some made-up family
Like when you go back home you can’t even begin to describe it
Like it was the most spectacular dream you ever had
Like something you’ll never forget.
The river was like an oasis in the middle of hell
A hell that we chose to go to
A hell that we had fallen in love with
My family that I had, made up of friendships
And love. The kind of love that exceeds everything else.
A kind of love that rarely finds people, especially children.
As I sat there with Grace and Jazmine, Ben, and Emma,
The four children that I had grown up with, The summer heat
burning all of our backs. As we told stories we had heard a million times,
About happiness and sadness, and what lunch will be tomorrow,
Yes, this was my family, this was my future and my past. This was happiness,
Sitting at the river in the summer heat, in the thick air of the desert
As the sweat trailed down our backs we all there together realized
We weren’t children anymore,
But at least we had all lost our adolescence
Together