Way Back When Poem by Vanessa Kingsley

Blinking lights in the distance.
Are they stars or street lights or planes?
I remember the look of stars.
Gleaming over death in the alleyway.
Shining on the blood that covered the sidewalk.

I remember the gunshots and tears.
The fights and arguments.
I remember the love and the lies that kept me sheltered from a world I’d already experienced

A hole in the sky is called the moon.
It shone bright on some days
Disappeared on others
Supposedly my protection from a fate I wouldn’t escape anyway.

Normality is just a word
It cannot be obtained.
I watched; in the middle of the night
Lives pass before my eyes

I watched as people I had never even met fell to their knees shakily inhaling their last breath.
Call me a liar
Call me insane.
But I remember it all

I remember being able to see stars
Running till I thought I might die
Breathing the scent of freedom
I remember when I had to leave it all behind

I remember the stars
The moon
The meadow
I remember my fairytales
My adventures
My world

I remember when I had to leave it all behind
I remember the day it came back and claimed me

I remember being told I couldn’t go back
But My World came back for me
I remember the stars
The Moon