The Farewell

Oh how we thought in our childish, whimsical, naïve, fragile hearts

That those long, scorching, playful summer days would last for an eternity

That once we finished high school and college,

We could be done with all of the productive nonsense and play forever,

Basking in the sun, climbing trees, swinging from ropes,

Being wizards in the backyard, laughing, having fun.

Oh how we were wrong

and no one told us otherwise,

That our silly childish notions

Were only as real

As the magic we pretended to have

We danced in the light of summer,

Only to last for a short while longer,

Then it’d be gone

And so too our juvenile, immature perceptions

Of the world we knew so little about.

What sadness on the day, will we

Experience when we find out

That tomorrow no longer

Holds our beautiful summer

In its heartbreaking hands?

We cry, we pout, we long

For the days when summer

Was just in reach,

Just in the grasp

Of our short, undeveloped arms.

We will go to college,

Not enough breaks

Not enough frolics

Not enough laughter

Everything but summer

We will get a job,

Not enough breaks

Not enough frolics

Not enough laughter

Everything but summer

We will retire

 be old

We will have time then

But what

Can we do with it?

When our hips are broken

We cannot swing from ropes

When our skin is wrinkled and delicate

We cannot bask in the marvelous sun

Summer just out of reach.

When our legs creak as we walk

We cannot climb trees

When our smiles are cracked, our teeth rotten

We cannot laugh and sing

Summer just out of reach.

We have so little time left

To go on adventures

To explore the unknown

To find peace in carefree bliss

To enjoy the summers that still remain.

How do we cope,

When we finally realized

That eternal childhood games

Are naught but silly

Made up stories.

We scream goodbye

To the white-yellow lady

Sitting in the sky

Because we can find no other way

To say the words without crying

We scream goodbye

Because we know no other way

To leave behind

A friend so dear to us

That she’s never let us down before.

We scream goodbye

Because how do you

Let go

Of the one thing in life

That you though you could always come back to?

Summer only lasts so long,

How were we so fooled

By the illusion

Of eternity

That kept a smile on our faces at night?

How were we so comforted

By such a lie?

A lie that let our spirits die

With its harsh, and false

Conceptions of reality it caused us.

We scream goodbye

Because there is simply no other way

To express the pain we feel

With the violent, rude awakening

That we lost our hearts to.