Hide And Seek Poem by J.L. Nash

If I hide my eyes with my hands
Like I am 5 or maybe 4
I can feel five or four
In the knowledge that I am safe
with you
And the games we play are real
Games of learning boundaries
but not testing each other’s love

And so I stand here now
Waiting for you to find me
Or is it me finding you
I forget
but the feelings are the same
and my hands feel warm against my face
And my eyeballs feel wet in the corners
where the lids join
and touch against the fingers
My fleshy thumb bottoms hugging my jawline
Hands more relaxed than
when I was that child

A more relaxed version of me
inhabits this space
A happier child
playing games in the house
‘Cause it’s too late to play outside
and bedtime will be soon
‘Cept that it’s nine now
I have to go to work tomorrow and
be a grownup again