I'm winding down a crumbling road Bow and arrow clenched as pretend soldiers march up the brick stairs The lowest part was a backyard burial She taught me loss. She taught me to care I carry her warmth into the cascade of age I grew inch by inch through the southern summers The friends I knew float by, carried like pollen in the air of June I miss the honeysuckles dancing softly to the beating of the season Time hurried anxiously away from me As I settled deep into youthful pause As the life, I lived scratches at my reaching palms