before the after

The landscape grieves a loss, as do I.

Distraught and unhappy with change...

I recall details of that playground

better than the builders who sketched

it into being.

But, as the earth revolves, new ideas take

shape regardless of disapproving.

They flattened you.

Destroyed a symbol.

Took away proof of a place where laughter

once gathered on the daily.

*

I grew up two blocks away.

Thought about you more than plastic heroes or

bubble gum.

I recall the distinct scent of rubber tires

linked together to make towering shapes.

They were the bones of our imaginary challenge.

Courageous, or perhaps reckless, as we stood

high atop to claim victory.

*

Children must now go elsewhere to live out that

phase of life when fun beckons every waking

moment.

All that remains is phantom laughter and

old scars from skinned knees.

They traded your horizon for a few measly

houses, desecrating the view.

Still, every time I drive by, I don’t see those

structures claiming your place. I see the

flickering of jubilant shadows, fading into

the backdrop of memory.

You did your job, served an important purpose

and happily watched bonds take root…

*

The history of everything is beyond my grasp.

But yours, dissolving from collective minds who

cherished you, became a casualty of time.

Future generations will never even know,

that you've been erased.