Work Text:
The color of nostalgia is golden.
Ask me
I would know.
We were children once
Held mom's hand to school,
Spent recess playing in the sandpit.
We laughed and cried
Fought together,
And went home
with the report card,
All guilty smiles.
Mom used to hate that.
Just like that, the years passed
We grew from kids to teens
Beards, girls, and rebellion,
We were on top of the world.
Then, at seventeen
We graduated from school
Couldn’t wait to get out.
But, on the last day
As we laughed together
I looked at the window
And there
Was
Golden
Sunlight.
It hit me like a train
That we wouldn't sit together in class again,
Wouldn’t annoy our math teacher
Into giving us detention.
Wouldn’t run in the field together
Skipping class.
Wouldn't return to these halls
In which I spent my golden years.
Then I touch my cheek
With a start
I realize
I'm crying
With heart-wrenching
Sadness.
As we walk out the door
The final time
I look back.
The auditorium
Glows
In golden sunlight of the afternoon.
In these hallowed halls
I think to myself
They say
All that glitters isn't gold.
But
I say
Sometimes, it glitters
And it's not gold
No
It's something much more valuable.
Now
As I sit
Watching the sun set
Casting the same golden light
Onto my arms
I realize
Golden is the color of nostalgia.