Boyhood

Falling leaves and sleepy trees, the kids from down the block,
Playing tag on the rail road tracks and tossing broken rocks.
We were summer still when fall began to teethe.

Twenty-one speed Huffy dreams
And a vacant midnight street.
Watching stars between long yellow lines
In front of the funeral home on Biddle Avenue.
A hand to hold when the night got old
And a silhouette against the creekside dawn.
A girl I knew from summer school
And the boy she barely saw;
Tangled in power ranger bed sheets and kissing
Inches of salty skin.

A smile in the hall and ghostly fingers against her neck,
Nod and Smile; but don't look back.
There's only empty streets and a boy you've never met.