In this moment,

I could sit here forever.

The faces in the crowd melt away,

Wax beneath a candle flame-

They shimmer in the heat haze.

September is an eternity away

And by then they will have vanished entirely,

Frozen dolls in the playhouse of my childhood.

If I turn this way-

A tattered scrap of paper flutters,

Remnant of a forgotten homework assignment.

This way-

The basketball net sways in memory

Of the games we played.

I blink-

The world comes back into focus,

And I know they called my name.

Amidst a web of tangled gazes

I glide up to the podium.

This silken cloud of dread about me shimmers.

And as I face this embodiment of hope

I know it’s all but over-

There are expectations of me still.

They will follow me,

Even as they fade, and melt, and drift;

I can never be free.

I open my mouth to speak,

But no words escape-

And what is this sound?

It drills into my mind-

And I fall into the cloud,

Deep into the heart of a scream.