Daye 17 / Girl Up A Tree On A Swing

do I remember
yes
the sky was cobalt blue
and cloudless
and so bright that I could barely look up for more than a few seconds
all that funny monday morning
I’d had a feeling
that something was about to happen
we were by the river
annette was sitting against the trunk of a tree
arm in arm with her sister marian
they were giggling and talking in whispers
the way sisters do
with their heads touching
annette brushes her hair away from her eyes
her red shoes
poking out of the shadows
and sparkling in the sunlight
she gets the urge to climb
disappears up into the green leaves and thick branches
on a clear day you can see the whole world
from the top of this tree
she says
while marian and I listen from below
she describes all that she sees
the wedding at the church on the top of the hill
the bend in the gentle river where she swam last summer
the windows of the houses along chestnut drive
the clock tower on the west end of st pauls cathedral
the white cliffs of dover
the eiffel tower
the taj mahal
the gingerbread house
the mountains of the moon
the thunderstorm that’s due on friday at noon
and now annette is laughing
as she swings herself outwards over the river
on the rope swing that’s been there since we were infants
she gives me an odd look
a sideways glance
marian asks for my camera
says she'd like to take a photograph of annette and I
so we sit down under the tree
and we both smile
and annette leans against my shoulder
and I can smell the summer in her hair
and she can taste balsam on the breeze
and we can feel the long grass between our fingers
and the camera clicks and whirs
and I’ve never dared
to have the film developed
for fear of what I may or may not see
it’s still in my camera
where she asked me to leave it
when we were about to say goodbye
and this is how we spend our last day together