I can still smell it
The rich foods fading as the
kitchen closed down for the night
The temperature falling, but
not too much…
Spring was giving way to
summer
I was glowing
Much like the red awning with
all of the lights beneath
I was in love.
Madly
Deeply
Something stunning.
Something came alive in me
The stars had “aligned”
It was my turn
The sketches of dreams now
filled in
I could see him
My gorgeous man
Becoming…
And I gave him that room
That grace to become
And I bloomed in the
reciprocity
I was his.
It was beautiful and I glowed
in it.
I never was moved by southern
city names,
But it was all made right in
Memphis.
Though it all began much
earlier for me.
That night, I was floating.
I felt like I’d won the
lottery of love.
The dreamy boy in school
picked me!
That night, she approached
me… meeting my smile
Happy for me, and I was
surprised.
I knew we got along, but
didn’t realize I meant much to her
It’s a sentiment echoed
throughout much of my life, if I’m honest
But that’s another story for
another time.
I was waiting with friends
for him to clock out…
And she walked over to me as
I sat at that black high patio table
I remember the grates and the
feel of the chair beneath me
I remember her heels as she
moved closer to me
Such a beautiful lady, she
was.
She spoke to me with an air
of authority that stilled me
She said, “he better treat
you like a queen, and don’t you dare ever settle for less”
I remember that I stopped
breathing for a second.
Hindsight is 20/20, isn’t it?
You see it all so clearly…
Not how it felt, or the
heaviness of the door, or how familiar the place had become
Not the table numbers or the
drinks or the faces of regulars
Or the playlist on heavy
rotation… what game was on
What time it was…
But every feeling filling in
the details with color
And the fact that I still saw
myself as a girl of the cinders
Waiting to be discovered by a
prince
Waiting to become a princess
When all the while I was a
queen.
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