By Serena Suson
Art by Sabrina Eager
Yesterday in 2015
We sang in a bedroom
More home than my own
There we are
Downstairs
Learning Riptide on ukuleles
I watch the video back
Like it’s the first time I’m filming it
I listen to the music we put together by chance
When the wind whipped past our eyes
I lie down in it
Recount my drive
The tears I couldn’t hold
Like those stars falling from the sky
Five years nearing seven
It’s miraculous I can’t forget it
When I told them nothing
And their voices are the ones I most remember
My friends, my friends
In my heart we’re there unblemished
Protective of our happiness
Because we’ve had the chance to taste it
We’re there forever
In the good old days
Assured more than life itself
We’ll be in each other’s weddings
I leave it to them
Don’t let them know
That they’re still kids
Because they’re kids
I tuck them in
Leaving on the song that lasts ‘til 4 am
Its peace playing softly
Into some known nuptial hymn
As the candles flicker
I blow one out
So it doesn’t melt away
In the darkness I feel twelve again
And in my blindness it makes sense
I set my vows and say my prayers
I fall asleep beside them