If We Were Kids Poem by Lynne RBC

If we were kids
I would have dragged you out in the rain
and showed you how beautiful it is
if we were under it -
looking up and tasting,
soaking and shivering.
I would have held your hand
and told you it's perfectly fine
to laugh till it hurts
or cry till we looked silly.

If we had known each other then
we would have skipped a tree house session with the gang
and have gone to the river bank -
talked and laughed
fished and composed our story.

If I had met you then
you would have made your way to my diary
pink and locked
and I would have named you
superman or tiger
or chipmunk
and adorned them
with smileys.

But I met you now
your hands are rough
your facial lines prominent
either from too much laughter or worries
my fingers can not decipher.

I met you
when you think the rain is merely for kids
and naming names was inappropriate
and that laughter is a privilege.

Now
when the stories we make are best kept
locked and blue
and fishing

is just to catch fish.