Childhood lines
Pulling us back like elastic bands
Pinching the skin
Leaving stinging nettle welts
Skinned our hearts as well as our knees
Long hot summers take our breath away
Blackberry juice dripping from our chins
The taste of nostalgia still on our tongues
Hot pavements burnt our feet
Sticky sweat mixed with mud dries
Daisy chains bound our wrists
Wasps circle the sugar
oozing from honeyed sandwiches
Hands searching for forbidden fruit
What is time but blurred lines
Pulling us back like elastic bands.