I knew a boy once.

He didn’t have a name.
He had no call to answer,
yet I knew him all the same.
He was sunlight and birdsong and the gentle sway of a swing.
He was full of answers because he questioned everything.
He was brown eyes and tracing stars in the night sky.
The more I got to know him, the more the years went by.
He was walking along the side of a lake without knowing you wouldn’t fall in.
He was the swell of the ocean and the childish desire to win.
He was a quiet sense of comfort, the warmth in a silent smile,
the knowledge you could calm yourself if you just breathed a while.
He was the smell of the earth in the springtime right before it rained.
He was fate and the universe and all things unexplained.
He sounded like a cello with the grace of a violin.
He was stamina, determination, and a crooked little grin.
He had a scar the shape of a comma on the back of his knee.
He met me every now and then by the lake under the tree.
He became the squiggle of my pen after a fresh dip of ink.
He became the blanket for the winter before I could even blink.
He bloomed with me throughout the years- when I grew taller, he would too.
And this boy became a man but remained the boy I always knew.
Then one day he disappeared, left without a trace.
No one came to visit me or cheat me in a race.
In fact, no one knew about the boy or the time he spent with me.
No one knew about the spot beside the lake under the tree.
I knew a boy once, to whom no one could compare.
And yet I start to worry,

was he ever even there?

 

 

 

Gwendolyn Martin is currently double majoring in English Literature and English Writing at Huntington University. She is an avid reader with an overactive imagination and dreams of traveling the world. Gwen believes every sunny day should be accompanied with a windows- down drive, every coffee or tea with a fabulous book or person, and every kitchen with dancing. She loves her vivacious family members who continue to support her every step of the way, as well as her dog who mainly just follows her every step of the way to whine for treats.