As Promised

1.

There we crawled from our shell
From the old bubble life
We were afraid of being noticed
After a life of practised silence
We shed our grey skins
We tried on new, ill-fitting ones
We stumbled, we cut our knees
Our elbows, we bruised our hearts
We found our sea legs and
We walked on water

2.

I do not know how we found our way
When there was no guide, no one to follow
No one before us
I do not know how we survived
In this foreign place
Or how it became home to us
Or when

3.

I do not know if we wanted to belong here
Or if we wished to return, as some did
I do not know why we did not return

You would not know it if you saw us
You could not tell from whence we came
We do not tell you, only just a few words
Hidden under laughter
We do not talk
Even to each other
We were children
Now we are not
We have left
So that there cannot be a return

4.

But I remember, my kite
My skipping rope, my hiding place
Under the macracarpa tree

We cannot return
Because there is no place to return to
Just faces on streets
Just a few words
Just my life
Shaped by your life.