Remember performing this emotionally at school

Eyes Like Stars

I remember an incident
When I was ten and a quarter –
A grown up told me knowingly
“These are the best days of your life.”

It seemed so stupid
Grownups have so much more freedom
Don’t have to go to school
Don’t have homework.

I looked up enviously and was surprised.
The eyes I connected with seemed somehow dull.
Frozen almost, and looking further in
A sadness bounced back at me
From those two distant mirrors.
They looked defeated –
Like when you realise it’s time to go home
But you want to stay at the playground with your friends.
It was like that.

Or that’s how I saw them,
But now I would attach a different analogy –
The memory of those eyes are indented
As stars etched in space –
Bright, sparkling but an ancient picture of energy
Outdated by distance, time.
The sparkle is an apparition from years before
The star may now be dead, a black hole.