Lightspeed Ride

Free verse describes olfactory memory of an elderly person.

Awake at two a.m.
Ozone sharpness fills the room
from gusts of rainstorm wind.

I ride the ion stream
a distance fifty years or more
to childhood,
when electric Summer storm
advanced above the hills
toward me and my brothers.

Winds charge the night.

"Check it out! Up there! You see?"
a kite torn free dance crazy fast

around the sky green airport beacon sweeps
in cycles steady flash across the lawn.
From poplar grove and swift along the ridge
our bodies burn like phosphor as
we throw off sparks to chase the beam
but never catch the light.

Now I know that time collapses
with such speed.

I ride deep aches;
drawn through time
by weather-change reminder.
Return to pain in bones with years

past and present visions blurred, dear brothers,
remind me.
Long ago you died.
Still, at times, grief strikes hard
and fast as Summer lightning.