"first enlightenment"

i remember lying on the soft clay and grass bed
staring, already missing
summer camp

the sun beamed down like rays of heaven
through the tall pines and
i was fifteen

my mind a mix of
churches, confirmations and
real life kids

confusion

as i lay there
head on a soft rock pillow
dressed in levi's and flannel

i heard the mountain kids playing
water polo in the mountainside pool
too cool for a sprat from the Tidewater
so i just laid there thinking
of the past week

smoking cigarettes in the woods
with two girls
and
skipping rocks up the babbling brook

it was like Heaven and childhood revelation

hours later my dad picked me up
and i got to drive a little on my
learner's permit
back down those mountains to
regular life
but it had changed

i never saw any of those kids again,
but i have never lost the memory of that sun
and that rock pillow that
cool mountain morning.
12/29.12.pgr