Twelve Again

Each blade is tall
And green;
As a mother watches her little girl-
The one I've sometimes seen-
Chasing butterflies through the grass.
I'd chase butterflies too,
But I wait for my friend,
On my side of the wall -
The wall that sits between our homes,
The wall where we sit and talk,
And wonder,
About all the years to come...

I smell green coriander,
Sinking into a pot of yellow lentils,
And hear onion hissing in the pan...
'Maa' must be cooking.
The afternoon is almost spent,
And the sun seems so much nearer;
As if it might touch the earth.
I hear laughter,
From the open field -
It is my sister with her friends;
She has the bicycle,
So she must've fixed the flattened tyre.

I still wait:
I walk around,
I look around...
There are blackbirds around the swing -
Three of them -
But the postman's already gone;
I know all that isn't true anyway:
The "One for sorrow, two for joy..."
Impatience tugs on my arm,
And yet,
Life is beautiful,
For I am twelve again...