I grew up amongst the golden turfs and extensive rows of olive,

Where songs of contentment and love were played,

Where mothers and fathers cared for their young,

Where girls became women a little too quickly,

And boys became men a tab bit too belatedly,

My adolescent years lived for summer nights,

Only to feel the glimmer from the stars caress my tender skin,

I grew up reciting the lyrics of the songs by the legend Johnny Cash,

Because today’s music lacks the same taste,

Love and Laughter were the voices of my summer nights,

Along with occasional outbursts of daily troubles,

I grew up riding in the back of old blue pick-up trucks,

And boys singing me their own versions of “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine”,

Nothing could demolish the love between our hearts,

Especially the love between a group of small town teens,

I was an innocent child with a constant taste for adventure,

I lacked the sense of danger,

I grew up with the mindset of fulfilling gracious dreams,

We all had big impractical dreams,

We fed ourselves with the knowledge of dreams,

The comforting dream of leaving this small town,

To head to the skyscrapers grazing across the cobalt sky of day,

Become the people who never have a worry,

Become the people who dreamt the same as us,

I grew up where work was a habit,

And laziness was taboo,

Where happiness often wept and sadness often laughed,

I grew up loving a forbidden face,

He was the repeating song of my summer,

The refreshing drink after a difficult day of work in the broiling summer’s heat,

An indulging kiss of affection,

Poison took him from me,

Like a bullet to the soul,

Shattered glass spraying across my inner feelings,

A silent anger still lingers the small walls within me,

I grew up glad despite the glare of life,

The constant despair that still to this day haunts me continuously,

But summers keep me alive,

So does this small town,

And the boys in the back of that old blue pick-up truck singing me their versions of “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,”

I’ll always cherish my small town,

No matter how big my dreams get…