teehee

now that age was just another number
after half a life of exploring in the dark
he gaped at how far they had arrived
away from the polaroid, the fiction that
they had lost and found, only by chance
that first flutter of the absent butterfly
that mother forgot to capture in her kodak
had swum wildly along the freckles, the hair
that reminded of stars, smelled of coconut
this they remember, about falling in love
for the first time, not knowing what to call it
two boys out camping in the motley suburb
daring to cross imaged lines of difference
unsuspecting of fluffier desires of company
that could turn into forbidden innocence
salvaged only by a shared summer secret
magnified by scrutiny of a newer kind
guarded by concocted imagination alone
turning into an adventure, they thought
something had hugged them both that day
that hasn’t managed to fade despite time
in a freer world and in a different century
in a togetherness that can now be named
they chuckle at how the universe works
at this story that only they are able to see
in this keepsake curated to bear witness
to the smiles and colours, past and present