valerie

16

Fleeting Summer

I think my favorite place in the whole world is the pier by my house that overlooked the Manhattan skyline,
And was next to the highway where cars would create a sound of rushing wind to go along with the hurriedness of the city.

But at the pier the sound was set apart like background noise on a set of a beautiful movie.
The sun glittering on the water outshines the sparkling glass skyscrapers.

It was here, on the summer of my sixteenth year, that I let myself believe I was lovely due to a shy boy who bought me an ice cream.
He let me tell him my dreams of sailing out at sea and around the world,
But never would I settle on one place, for the ocean owned me.

He told me," coeur de pirate".
"Heart of a pirate", I translated.
"You steal more than treasure,
You crave more than normality,
You are a restless wanderer searching for a greater something," his eyes looking at me the way I saw the ocean sparkle.

When he left, he thought he could take me with him.
As the end of summer took with it iced coffee and lazy morning kisses,
the sunlight as you lay on the beach with him,
And moonlight dances on the boardwalk behind the amusement park.
And for some time I let myself believe he did.

My mom thought I was crazy for wanting to go to the pier one night,
Where the wind was lashing out and the rain wrecked havoc.
But I needed to put away a restless feeling...

I approached the bench where I told him my banter and scattered thoughts.
"I told you the ocean owned my heart," I whisper.
This would always be my favorite place, I thought as I sat through downpour and the chill of the icy sea.
Summer could take no more of me.