Everlasting

I slam the Prius’ black car door shut,
Fuming and furiously fighting back tears and as I
Stomp out my frustration across the field, I feel
Panic twist itself into my mind, bubbling and bursting,
Screaming that nothing seems to be working out –
Those I love are leaving, breaking away to fly,
To find a place in the world and
Time is slipping out of my grip, again, as I await
My own upcoming island adventure, while my stomach knots in worry,
As bags deepen in color under my exhausted eyes and I
Try in vain to hold on to tranquility.

But then I see it, in the melon patch –
That striped green ball of sugary goodness
Shooting from Daddy’s callused hands to Val’s, up to a smiling Kazami
In the red truck, and placed carefully into a wooden box –
So I take over for Val, catching Daddy’s tosses,
Even the silly ones – from underneath his legs, to the side,
Accidentally hard into my belly, sometimes
Too silly to catch, even though I lunge in every effort
To save those precious globes from a fatal smashing.

From time to time Daddy stops, slips out his knife and
Cuts open a melon to taste, and in between tosses
Kazami and I, too, gobble up pieces of yellow, red, swirly-orange
Watermelon, juice dripping off of our chins, spitting out
Black seeds in record time, so that we can
Ready ourselves in crouching melon catching position once more.

By the time the truck is filled to the brim with the sweet aroma
Of orange-fleshed muskmelon mixed with sugary watermelon and
Covered, too, with boxes and boxes of fragile fruit,
Soft purple streaks across the sky, over deep blue and
Kazami hums “Party Rock Anthem” as we move drip tape down
Corn, beans, and newly planted lettuce beds, and when
My reckless little brother whizzes by on the tractor at top speed,
Curly brown hair blowing off of his tan forehead, I shake my
Head in disbelief but smile, thinking of his joyful laugh.

When I turn on the road to pick him up with the car at the
Land Connection barn to go home, the radio is playing
“Party Rock Anthem”, so I turn it up loud so that
Kazami giggles, hearing it, and starts to shuffle playfully
Dancing cheerfully before getting in and then
I am laughing, all panic, frustration and sadness
Erased and replaced with the taste of watermelon and
This simple love that envelopes us –
Sweet, sticky, and everlasting.