Tangled Threads
They revel in their boundless freedom,
Young, happy, skipping through the tall grass.
They race each other from tree to tree,
Each new sight a game, each new experience beautiful.
Blue eyes, tangled hair, pure laughter,
Skinned knees, stained clothes, muddy hands.
They're young, children still, but they'll grow.
They'll change.
***
They meet, for the first time in months,
Hug, smile, laugh, talk, but still,
There's more in their silences than their words,
What came so easily before is hard now.
New experiences, new differences, new barriers,
Expectations and responsibilities keep them apart.
They've grown, and now, it seems, life is harder.
That will change.
***
Life carries on, an inexorable movement,
They're caught up, torn apart,
Drift along, until, one day they meet again,
Old memories, old joys, old friendships,
Their shared roots bind them together.
This time, they are stronger than the winds of change.
They age, but they hold on to one another, love.
This will change.
***
Now their differences define them,
Drive them apart.
No random winds, these, but demons of their own design,
Tearing at what they have, cutting their new bonds.
Confused, sad, desperate for one another,
They wrap themselves in despair, lash out.
They think they know themselves, think they know each other.
This will change.
***
They meet again after many years,
Remember the skinned knees and happy eyes.
And the fights and differences.
What they thought was truth,
Now seems false and hollow.
They embrace again, after too long.
They know now the futility of fighting destiny.
They have changed.
***
Tangled threads on the loom of fate,
They twist together, drift apart,
Helpless before the merciless advance of time,
But holding desperately to the past.
Children among the trees, waiting,
In blissful ignorance, for a beautiful future.
They thought they couldn't, thought they shouldn't,
Thought they knew, thought they were older, wiser.
But they were always just children,
Watching the sunrise with wide, wondering eyes.
That doesn't change.
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