Textbook

It was the music and it was the trees, but in the end I think it was pride.

It was love love love and that word ran into the ground long before we stood under those fireworks that were technically celebrating a holiday, but more appropriately sending you off.

Then came warm words that left me reaching for coats, but we're in the big leagues now, and the back wall of elementary schools hung even the most innocent sweaters years ago.

I don't know what love is, but it's aftereffects are air conditioners in winter.

Calling it "like" because love wasn't on your radar and sometimes I wish I wasn't either.

I'll say it though, that night the grass was wet and the air was cold.

Converse take too long to tie and we were never on any comfort level. So I went barefoot.

I'll admit it now that you're not so concerned, yes my feet were in pain.

But you know what? That was the best walk of my young life.

So thank you.

If we can't love each other we can at least love that walk.

I drive the speed limit when I pass your house now.

Not to be safe - I take my eyes off the road just the same.

I just want to steal a glance at the old times, when I believed you were magic and that God would say something new.

We don't swap music anymore but I like singing along with Tupac again.

We never saw the world from the tops of each other's trees, but the view three fourths of the way up was almost fantastic.

I miss that.

Don't we all miss something though?

The time passed for please, I just want to say one last thank you and an overdue sorry.

We're still unique and maybe the art of our lives is better off in separate museums.

Love, nostalgia, you.

But in the end we're textbook history

and textbooks are always due back at the end of the year.