Summer Days {Avary}

Summer days,

In the rain

We were so careless

So hopeless

So free

Sunflower days

In the rain

Time passes away

When she was little she’d go stand in the middle of a golden field full of wheat grains and sunflowers. The sun would shine on her freckled face and highlight the orange in her corkscrew curls. She wanted to live forever. To fly away and be free—or wait, wasn’t freedom what she had already attained? She didn’t know, but she wanted to touch the stars.

Bare feet, a lace dress. She sometimes wore plaid. She’d take a glass bottle full of lemonade and pour it into mason jars. She’d sit and have a tea party. The sun beat down on her head and gave her a bronze summer tan. She didn’t care. She’d sit out there forever if she had to.

Her daddy came to join her sometimes, when he wasn’t busy. He twirled her around and the sound of her laughter carried for miles. They’d dance. To this day, those were some of her favorite memories.
The day that she remembers the most was when he sat down with her and had a tea party. The other attendees included her raggle-taggle teddy bear, and her bunny rabbit. He played the part perfectly; she had a hard time remembering he was only her father.

Those were the days when she missed her mom. It was a keen aching. She couldn’t decide whether it dulled or eased by the diversion of playing in the grass. Perhaps a little bit of both.

Those were the days that were both full and empty, hopeful and hopeless. Love-filled and lonely.