Places we let go

It has a smell of musty leaves

A sound of crunching

Boats roaring

Waves crashing

It has my youth

Dirt hills and bikes

A sweaty run into a lake

A push to swim, all the way

Onto rocky shores

Islands with holes between roots of pines

A stinging catfish, a slippery silvery minnow

Cold winds against an exhausted canoe

It has songs of girlhood and her laughter

Teens and boxes of snacks

Now I don’t know how to say goodbye

But when you go please know I hold

Sacred remains