1371

Cider with Rosie?

Was there a moment in my past

A tipping point when I slipped from one life

To another?

A day with Cousin Claude

Stands out,

But what else, in all those teenage years

Still glows?

If anything?

I hit a blank, and for all the days

Of school and friendship

A blandness of normality extends

Unnoticed, unrecalled.

Stuff happened but my future seemed to stick

At fourteen

And I remained that age until my forties -

Still do in times of stress - 

For even now close to my seventies

The fears and subtle put-downs of my teens

Return to trouble even waking dreams.

Brian Hick August 2014

©copyright Sally Hick 20.825