Summer Nights are For Love

The first time we kissed
   I felt my future shift
It was a summer night, you see.
   I love summer nights.
Just before Independence Day
   and during the summer
of my independence.
   The beer was flowing
like a warm breeze,
   and the conversation, easy.
Laughter filled
   each and every hollow,
almost as if it were on draft,
   and our pints overflowed
with flirtation.
   The music,
providing a soundtrack
   that unbeknownst to us
would always
   bring us back to that night.
You had this look,
   a little rough around the edges
and to anyone else,
   you may have been intimidating at first,
but your eyes,
   they told me different.
They whispered to me
   that you were kind.
It would be
   the first night of many
that we were two in a crowd
   but really,
the only people there.
   Later, a moonlight walk
found us in a private park
   where I would swing like
a schoolgirl on recess
   and your eyes would sparkle
with pleasure, while you watched.
   The bridge in that park
still holds a piece of my heart
   and I shall never pass it
without remembering
   the moment
your lips touched mine.
   That summer night,
the first time we kissed,
   I felt my future shift.


(January 20, 2012)