Prompt Two – Text Prompt:

Write a poem from the point of view of yourself, ten years ago.

(My poem is 45 years ago, not 10)

 

My 12-Year Self

She jogs beside me, this child so sweet,

I knew her well, a long time ago.

We run in synch, on our neighbourhood street,

but share wee smiles as we go.

Does she like me at all, I wonder now?

Her approval seems to matter.

Does she think I’ve done all right?

I wish she’d stop and chatter.

She’s tough, this kid, will go quite far,

if she’s helped along the way.

How lithe her limbs, how long her stride,

riding, running, playing all day.

I look again, see young dreams shine,

Athletics arenas, gymkhana races.

There it is then, her twelve-year dreams,

writ clear on both our faces.

In the forty-five years that separated us,

life happened in its stead.

Dreams denied, young plans just died,

new ideas settled in her head.

Should I say sorry now, apologise to her,

for not fighting harder for those dreams?

But she looked up then and smiled at me,

I saw acceptance in her beams.

My twelve-year self was ok, thank God,

with what I had made of her own life.

A middle-class woman, now middle aged,

A writer, a mother and a wife!