We sat in the grass
When I looked at the sky, I noticed the moon wasn’t there
But there were still shadows all around us

I’m afraid I knew, before you even said a word
I was crying, wiping my tears on my hands, my hands on the grass
When you said all you had to say, I couldn’t look at you
Instead I watched the streetlight
The moths bumping around like boys in love
I thought they looked like snow

After a while you said you couldn’t sit there any longer
You said you were getting too cold
and too sad
so you went inside

It wasn’t so long ago that we drove
And drove until I recognized a narrow street
We pulled into the long drive of an old stone building
The tall walls just as solid as I remembered

The grass was pushing through the pavement of the courtyard
The playground in the back slowly falling into the weeds
You smiled at me because it was still daylight
You picked me up and carried me across the decaying mulch like a bride
And sat me down on a wooden swing

I couldn’t shake the feeling that suddenly
The whistle would blow
The doors would open
The children would come tripping into the sun

But I could tell by the way the slide shuddered
There hadn’t been a child here in a long time
Perhaps I was one of the last
The ladder cracked under your weight
And you kicked the plank away without a thought

I told you about my first kiss
I told you about recess in the winter
How those 30 minutes were so long
How we all huddled together like penguins under the frozen sun
And waited, too cold to speak,
Until they called us inside