There was a porch swing then,

When you were a little one

full of life and cheekiness.

I would sit with you

in my round, warm arms and sing to you

rocking back and forth, up and down in the heat

of a summer of biscuited, brown grassed days.

It feels a lifetime away and surely it is …..

“all thirty one” says the inner timekeeperof my pining heart.