Faded Kaleidoscope
Blending to pastel in memory’s grasp
POETRY
Blending to pastel in memory’s grasp
Childhood’s kaleidoscope colours dull with time,
vivid hues blending to pastel in memory’s grasp.
Yet if held to the light,
faded shapes crystallize again.
Whorls of nostalgia spiral backward.
Half-remembered scents mingle,
orange blossoms, new-mown grass, laundry starch.
Echoes of playground chants
and jump rope songs
skip faintly in the mind’s ear.
Long-lost textures imprint themselves,
feather-light dandelion wisps,
sun-warmed tomato flesh,
newly mixed fingerpaints slick and cool.
Each sensation a madeleine
returning us to innocence.
The mind’s eye flickers with ghost images,
shadows of formative moments,
lightning bugs in a jar, skinned knees,
holding Daddy’s hand
crossing streets suddenly immense.
As another turn reveals childhood’s pattern,
comfort comes from its familiar geometry.
Within time-worn facets,
we locate our primal landscapes,
original selves.
Though its colours are faded,
childhood’s kaleidoscope still reflects wholeness.
Peering through time’s veil reveals
how we became
who we were meant to be.