Vignette
The Air Raid Shelter
Brittle dry grass and a blazing orb,
the afternoon wind holding its breath.
We climbed behind the high school,
two boys running from the summer heat.
He had straw-blond hair and forest-pool eyes.
We stepped into the concrete chill,
where powdery earth tones and old shadows
fought the light bleeding through the door.
A question asked, a hand taken.
Our noses touched, our eyes stayed wide.
A feather-light brush of lips,
a second longer the next time around.
We giggled in the dark, safe from the sun,
tasting an innocence we couldn\'t yet name.
An hour of secrets in a forgotten tomb,
before clambering back into the blinding day.
Hand in hand, the adventure continued—
but the world had quietly shifted.
The first time I ever missed a boy,
and the first time he kissed me back.