Elderberry Picking in Childhood
by Shaune Bornholdt
Sun in my eyes made you be lost,
but I found your face in leaves and berries.
Berry, bury—doesn’t one mean dead?
You gave me a blue bonnet for my eyes.
I found your face in leaves and berries,
but you couldn’t see me being scared.
You gave me a blue bonnet for my eyes,
and I pretended being happy, till I was.
You couldn’t see me being scared,
so I held tight, tight to your skirt,
and pretended being happy, till I was
all caught up in snap and flash.
I held on tight to your skirt,
and the bright scissors went snip, snip,
and berries got caught with snap and flash.
They had to be clipped in clusters.
Your bright big scissors went snip, snip.
The berries are too small to pick, you said,
so they have to be clipped in clusters.
I said those words twice in my mouth.
Then, Too small to pick, I said,
and found pick, clip and lip,
and I said those words twice in my mouth.
Light burst inside and your face grew brighter.
Cluster, pick, clip, and my lips
forgot, doesn’t one word mean dead?
Light burst inside and your face grew brighter.
Sun in my eyes made you be lost.
Copyright © 2009 by Shaune Bornholdt.