More than just a phase

When I was a child, summer always felt like my happiest season.

I was born in summer - so, naturally, that helped. And of course, along with the opportunity to spend time with my family, it brought at least six weeks without the worries of school (though, admittedly, I did not always attend school as much as I was supposed to anyway.)

But I think one of the greatest blessing of our childhood summer is just how long it seemed to last for.

Literally, over the course of a single season, it would feel as if the entire world would change. Or, at least, it had that potential to become something so wonderful.

_

I remember, my friends and I would go climbing at these little passages of rocks, and feel as if we were scaling mountains together . . . or head off on these wild, sprawling adventures as if it were some kind of epic expedition (when in all honesty, they led us barely a mile from our own neighbourhood.)

But sadly, those days are long gone now. And it is strange how all those long, endless summers now feel so very fleeting.

The friendships. The first romances. The innocent games. The hopes. The possibilities. It all goes by so quickly, doesn’t it!

But I suppose what we lose from experience, we gain in memory.

*

Listen
if there should ever come a time
when you think of me again
I will be thinking of you.

And if you remember my name or my face
(even if only for a moment)
Or you slip into reminiscing over the secrets we shared
and the days we spent 
and the years which passed us by so quickly -
I will be remembering too.

You see?
This was always more than just a phase for me.

My heart remains exactly where it has always been
ever since I gave it to you.

So if you should no longer want to keep it . . .
then it is yours to throw away.

And if you would rather forget me -
Then I can forget too.

And if you would wish me away -
Then believe me, I will already be gone.

But still,
if the day should come
when you find yourself looking for me -
Rest assured, 
I will not be hard to find.

And if by some strange chance
you find yourself loving me again,
I will still be loving you.

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