Skipping to the pool
Jumping over the rail
And into the icy water
We were girls
And yet women
Free.
 
But no more.

What has changed us?
Is it he? Is it I? What has changed you? Where is that spiked-haired girl
Who laughed so easily?
Who pushed down my legs
until my abs burned
who leaped first into the icy pool
who trusted me 
with secrets in the whispering dark

I felt strong and wise and important
Confidant and friend.
I was who you needed
Just as much--I needed you.
 
Yet no more?
 
Like a shutter drawn across a beam of light
makes the sleeping dreamer doubt the truth of day
I am befuddled

I miss our easy-as-breathing friendship.
Yet I fear--should the shutter draw back
the light will not feel the same.
 
Can the summer
compete with the color-splashed daffodils
of spring? 

Written Sunday, September 20, 2015