The Things That Children Lie About

You didn't grow up together
but she was always there

She was your best friend
that you imagined fake memories with

like the time you hopped the school fence 
in the middle of the night
just to see if you could do it
and you scraped your knee
and still have the scar

except that's from the time
your enemy tripped you on a run

and she wasn't there to help you up
because she was gone
in her new town
with her new friends

at least you have the summer
that you spent together in the mountains
swimming in jeans,
catching crayfish
and calling them yabbies,
climbing rocks barefoot
naming caves and coves 
an imaginary town
or a pirate ship 
like children

and playing hide n seek
on empty ski slopes
hours after the sun went to bed

and dancing in the rain
not like the movies
but actually dancing in the rain
in a lightning storm
with the dogs
laughing,
and frozen to the core

or sitting in a tree
watching the stars
each its own 
rebel diamond,
cut out of the sun
and catching fireflies in glass jars
only to learn 
that you accidentally killed one
so you dig in the mud
to bury it
but when the grave is ready
the firefly is gone.
now you're just muddy
at ten o'clock
but you're still laughing
together

you always went a little farther upstream
building a bridge
in a cave that you just happen
to be stuck in
where all you can hear is the creek
and your laughter echoing off the walls

and then there's the time
when you found that little rowboat,
and thought it was a good idea
to take it down the river
as the sun went to bed
where it split in two 
ten minutes after you left the bank
so you were swimming
in the rapids
in jeans
in the dark
with the fireflies
and the stars

and your parents have no idea

at least you have that
you tell yourself
every day you don't see her

which just so happens to be 
every day of your life.