Summer, 1964
Back in the summer of 1964,
I turned ten.
Playful days as a child
would not return again.
That was the year I realized
I no longer looked through youthful eyes.
The world around me forever changed,
the girl, now ten, was rearranged.
Satellites, Cuba, and The Beatles,
words I now understood.
I would have stayed ten forever,
only if I could.
I lost so much when I turned ten,
finally understanding the natural world, and then,
up until then I only knew
my family’s life and neighbors few.
The dusty roads and hillside runs,
a country way and only fun.
When I turned ten, I lost so much,
most of all, my grandad’s touch.
He died that year and broke my heart.
Back when I was ten, life fell apart.
In the summer of 1964,
when I was a child, no more.
