When the Past is not Tense

after Diana Khoi Nguyen

 

This is how they found us,

giggling, draped around the room.

Cousins, meeting post lockdown

after months of giggling on zoom.

 

Cousins, first best friends

childhood partners in crime,

Stolen mangoes, fashion trends

secrets shared, joy sublime.

 

Life then got in the way just like life does,

and we went our separate ways

for four decades and more

forgetting, bypassing, magical days.

 

We met, at weddings and such

with partners, spouses, and soon, young ones

We’d hug and kiss, not say too much

And return ‘home’ with our daughters and sons

 

Through covid then, a WhatsApp group

we joined it one by one.

Seven in all, a dysfunctional troupe

but oh boy, was it fun!

 

‘Remember when’, each text began thus

from the eldest, in her seventies, who remembered all.

Tales of notoriety, her stealing mangoes, and us

the younger ones, on lookout call.

 

Today though, we finally meet,

and wear the childhood cloak we share.

They find us thus, when they come to greet,

lost in the love that hangs in the air.