Kings and Queens

Why can’t we go back to the bouncy house?

When we were young and it didn’t matter that we were boys and girls,

before cooties and sweaty palms.

Before stomach tremors, when kisses still meant drops of sweet dew.

We were all in there together, the kaleidoscope castle, swaying in the wind.

It was family, laughter bubbling from its depths.

Sock clad feet twisting side by side, no lipstick to mind, no care of hair being mused.

Peonies in bloom, prickly damp grass beneath our inflatable oasis,

where different stopped at the drawbridge.

I want to go back, just us,

and be together once more.