Tag Archives: candy

The Summer Treat

There’s sweat above my lip
That drips upon my tongue
My hair is sticking to my skin
And everything feels undone

My mom said to turn off TV
But what else can we do
The neighbors pool is fenced and locked
They fled to look for cool

I cannot play outside for long
Without melting in this heat
Shade from our tree is taken
By Great Aunt Bernadette

She sits and waves her fan
Back and forth before her face
She gave us candy in a bag
From a very special place

The heat and the humidity
I am truly sad to say
Made one gigantic glob of it
That we had to throw away

I cannot even go barefoot
Into our box of sand
It burns between my toes
And clings where I can’t stand

Dad said that after dinner
We would visit our favorite shop
Til then I will simply have to dream
Of how great it will be to stop

And look at all those flavors
In line waiting for our treats
With all the people just like me
On ice-cream soon will feast

Magic

My cousin, 7, said the Easter bunny was a hoax
What is a hoax I wondered, a giant rabbit maybe

The boy behind me in the 2nd grade passed a note
It read, Only babies believe in Santa Claus, do you?

My brother, 11, said the tooth fairy didn’t lose her way
She may come tonight, he scoffed, but she isn’t real

Each time these truths were forced upon my ears
I grew up and was uncomfortable in my little girl heart

That little girl’s heart didn’t disappear for good, it lay
In wait to give what it could in the way of magic

Tucking secret presents under a tree, hiding candy filled
baskets, stealthily placing quarters under sleeping heads

Even if sometimes the magic isn’t what was expected
Maybe wasn’t quite the first choice, or even the second

Sometimes what isn’t real, those fairy dust creations
Make the uglier truths just a bit easier to bare, for both

If you tell me they are hoaxes, unreal, and only for babies
I will understand with my big girl brain that knows the truth

But my heart, beating as an aunt, and now as a mom
Will say those who don’t believe, don’t ever truly receive