In this graveyard a boy once proposed to me, 

We were young and callous and the world 

Lay at our feet. We climbed the broken wall 

To get inside, we did that often, my friends and I

Daring each other to stay on till dark, exploring

Among tombstones, reading aloud the words 

Left for the dead. So when this bright eyed boy

Actually held out a ring, it felt a little strange

But not really, because those days doing things 

That others thought strange was ordinary. 

I was in control of my life, Of course, I broke 

The boy’s heart, maybe for a little while. 

In that very graveyard where some ancestors

Lie buried, we used to sit on tombstones 

And tell each other stories and dream 

Of futures yet to unfold. When I returned

A few days ago, the sunlight fell differently

The light had changed. The years had left 

Their mark, both on me and the graves. 

I watched the burial from a little afar. 

Saw the kite that hung to the tree above

Helplessly fluttering to be free, 

for some force of nature to cut it loose, 

To strike that connecting bit of string.

In that graveyard to which I returned

I left a little of myself that day, not in the earth

But fluttering in the breeze much like the kite

Hanging by a piece of string, the ties that defined 

Who I could be. Trying to reinvent myself, 

One case at a time, whether I lose or win

One length at a time, even if I fail to swim

one drink at a time that I do not pour, 

one risk at a time, unafraid of the sour

taste of failure that I hid from all these years

To free my own soul. Of course, I’ll break 

Your heart, maybe even for a little while.