By the lake in our rented cottage

is when we were happiest

Our noses burned pink 

and freckled cheeks

From racing down the beach

In those sweltering sunny days of late July

Made bearable by breezes

That smelled of fish and fresh air

That whipped our hair into knots

And our Great Lake into white waves

We woke every morning then walked

Across that rickety, rusty bridge 

To the same cement seats on the pier

Me to the east, you to the north, him wherever he wanted

Flicking our lines into the watery abyss

Hoping something big would bite

Not that mom could cook it if we caught it

Never running out of worms

Or laughter 

Or conversation 

Or dreams of our futures 

Or patience with each other

(c) Image by Frank Pizzacalla from Pixabay