A Fragment of Youth

Local bar low-ceilinged and loud
Kitsch and Christmas lights in April
Drunks laughing and dancing to the deafening band
God this song brings me back 15 years
To when love wasn't really love at all
Just tingling fingers and long glances
Mush and nonsense from innocent kids
New and strange and exciting
When responsibility was a four-letter word
And all we knew was
Long car rides and your dad's jazz stations
Playing just loud enough to cover our conversation
Then he changes the station and this song plays
And we sing along in low voices
Just whispers in the summer wind
And I hear this song now
So many many years later
And I swear for a split second
I'm that kid again
It's a strange feeling
A fragment of youth and innocence
Briefly superimposed over maturity and age
Like a lightbulb suddenly burned out
Leaving an after-image of the room as it was
Then the song ends and the moment is banished
I shake my head and drink my beer
Let the moment the image
Float back down the swift torrent of memory