#poem, «On Roller Skates»

ON ROLLER SKATES

He was born on roller skates

I don’t remember the exact date

but it must have been one summer long ago,

he grew up as fast as light,

learned to think and learned to fight,

on a summer breeze so very long ago.

He left crumbles on the road,

never carried any load,

but he always had a place that he called home,

struggles? Sometimes, sometimes no,

wasn’t much he didn’t know,

but he never could resist the urge to roam.

Summer’s heat and winter’s rain,

fighting hard to beat the pain,

life ain’t easy when you swim against the flow,

shelter’s rare and hard to find,

when you’re odd and misaligned,

and you’re looking for the northern winds to blow.

Death came easy,

death came fast,

rest for weary bones at last.

As his ashes floated past my eyes of green,

a thought crossed through my head,

wondered which books he had read

to become the character he’s been.

‘Cause I’ve seen him everywhere,

lonely wonderer sans care,

a million stories of his life and crimes.

But him I did know very well,

yet his name I’ll never tell,

‘cause his memory’s forever in my mind…

C.2024, Francisco Bravo Cabrera/01 JUL 2024/Valencia, Spain