I’ll Always Remember

For Aunt Charlene

Deep, back in the oldest parts of my mind I remember you

so much time has passed since you left, but you were there as I formed my sense of self—you showed me how friends stayed together even with different life paths

feelings are remembered much more strongly than events or time and places

and I can feel my memories that shared you

I feel summer now and as I once did, free and wild outdoors at your house, playing at adventure in the back yard with a fluffy tabby cat

face paint and balloons, gummy worms, water fights, and lightning bugs—

I felt fierce as the fae, and you helped unlock that

no rules to follow, no one to answer to, nothing but imagination and play in the hot evenings as the locusts hummed

I had everything before me—triumph, heartache, tears, smiles—but you showed me how to be free, to tap into that and take advantage of what’s in front of me, here and now

be fierce and wild and don’t apologize for being you

I always think of you and smile, you taught me not to let others diminish my light

only this time, let’s share the martini olives