Dream-like Reality

Cadman Yarbrough

The full moon illuminates the summer night— stars flickering, bats fluttering.

I feel the cool grass carpet beneath me; my fingers twist each blade— cousins laughing, locusts yelling. Even so summer turns into fall and fall into winter and winter into spring … somehow in the blink of an eye.

Now I listen to the honeybees and their gentle buzz, the chirps of baby birds begging for worms, the celebratory cheers for the end of another school year.

But what happened to that summer night under the speckled stars?

I try to recall watching the football games under the strobing stadium lights, stuffing my face with pie and turkey, sipping hot chocolate after a long day sledding in the snow, dancing until my feet are numb, walking down Souby lawn in my white dress, roses in hand.

It feels like a dream, a distant reality I can’t quite grasp. Was it real?

For a sliver of a second, I linger on that thought … But then my mind jolts towards the future: College. My first job. My first house.

And once again I surrender to tomorrow— the never-ending abyss of the unknown.

Artwork by Suki Junge