Growing Pains

Sitting by railroad tracks Eye to eye with bare, coiling tree branch, Sunlight caressing half iced river below, Glittering rainbow prisms, And I’ve been here many times before. When I was seventeen, On my own, Playing with freedom for the first time And I knew everything. When I was nineteen, Blue hair, Green shoes, Red checker pants, Wide eyed, Crazed and crying, Wishing for a train. When I was twenty-one, Lying on snow covered tracks, Looking at moon reflections in his eyes, Red cheeks, Tender lips, “Promise me you’ll never forget this moment,” And now, twenty-seven Past lives lingering like star dust Older, wiser, Wondering Where the next train Might take me.