On Being Fourteen

 

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We were hardly more than children
That morning when we crept
Out of camp before the dawn
To walk along the lakeshore,
Faces lifted toward the sky
As the Perseids fell shining
Across the inky expanse above.

We didn’t touch, quite,
But I could feel your warmth
Close beside me as we
Leaned out over the bridge,
Laughing as we dropped pebbles
That disturbed the still surface
Of the dark water below.

Later we found a broken rock,
Its two halves joining perfectly
To create a rounded whole.
You said that maybe it was once
An ancient mountain’s very crest
That had crumbled to the shore,
And each holding half we said we’d
Keep them to remind us of that night.

When camp was over I went to
Your room to say goodbye
But you were gone already,
The room stripped bare but for
A single rock left lonesome on the desk.
Your roommate asked me why
The tears were in my eyes
But what could I have said?

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Three Word Wednesday prompt: bridge, disturbed, still