The Skies Meant Everything

When I was 17 one summer
I was in Maine with my mother.
We were staying at someone
else's place, a very old
home, typical of this part
of the mid-coast, with
wooden walls that smelled
even older than they
actually were. In a good way.
The reason I remember is
that I was at an extremely
dramatic juncture in my
young adult life. It wasn't
so much that there was anything
grave or monumental I had
to deal with. There was
internal upheaval.
I was conscious of the fact
that my adult life was
about to begin. And everything
in the world was charged,
as if by some internal energy.
The skies meant everything.
My every last thought had to be
recorded. My decisions at that
moment in my life would
reverberate through the rest.
Indeed they have. But I'm
left wishing I could feel
again the way I remember
feeling in just those few days.
The skies meant everything and
my life was about to begin.

(2008)