• Do you still remember those long autumn days,
    When we whispered up a storm?
    Knowing full that we would get away,
    Far from all of the harm.
    Do you remember those long ever nights,
    Playing and laughing away,
    Do you remember what we used to say,
    How we knew it would last for all time.
    I remember the stories and how I felt,
    Knowing that I was a part,
    I remember naivety and how IT felt,
    And how stupid I was as it was ripped away.
    I built a shell around myself long before,
    It guarded me from the world.
    Sweet naivety, how warm it felt,
    As I realized what youth really meant.
    I learned what it was to be jaded,
    Something I knew you all shared.
    I learned how to look at those with experience,
    And how to see it from them in their eyes.
    I was a different person,
    After life tore me apart.
    I learned how to distance myself,
    Even as I got close.
    I learned how to speak,
    And to walk,
    But mostly how to listen.
    Listening was the most valuable gift,
    I believe,
    That I ever learned.
    I listened to the hearts of others,
    And learned who I liked and who I didn’t.
    I learned to look and listen,
    To people from a distance,
    I learned how to become a friend to them,
    By knowing what would hurt them.
    Yet all these people who smile and laugh,
    Not one can I call an equal.
    Not a person is left,
    In the past or present,
    For me to look to and say,
    YOU and I, we are the same.
    You from those long autumn days,
    Whispering up a storm,
    The storm has swept each of us up and away,
    I know how to look at days that are long gone.