Falling for Tom Sawyer/ Zara M.

There was a bliss that fell over me in the summer

That summer when mosquitos bit my legs

And juice ran down my chin

 

Some parts were like sunburn

They hurt

 

But most of the days were carefree

We swam together

You and I

Not that we could swim

We walked up to the edge of it and sat an arm’s length apart from one another

 

Jesus might have sat there

That’s what my mom told me

That Jesus filled the spaces

 

When we didn’t fill the town with our laughter

I wondered if he filled in the silence

I wonder if he felt the sun and smelled the flowers

 

I didn’t believe in him

Because I could only believe in things I could see

So I believed in you and the way you kicked when I tickled your belly

 

Sometimes I would think of us in the past as the present was happening

I would uncurl the dog ears of yesterday and kiss the already faded images

Worn out by too many excited hands

 

I would twist my hair around my finger

We sat under the tree

Watching your empire of working boys grow

One coat on the fence after another

 

I declared that I was in love with you

I decided this after we chased each other in the fields and collapsed near a bed of flowers

I decided this when you said you would never take a wife

“Then have me as your best friend,” I said

The kisses came like mosquito bites

I slapped at my legs to calm the itch

Silent and unknowing

 

 

Zara Medugu, 19, is originally from Nigeria. She is currently studying communications in a university in Israel. Zara also hosts a radio show that combines poetry and music via the university’s radio station. You can find her other works here: zarainwords.wordpress.com and her radio show can be streamed from this site: http://1062fm.co.il/en/category/culture-and-entertaiment/the-mosaic/

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