our tender hearts

I remember my first love.
her name
was karen.
she lived next door to me.
a year older at twelve,
but wiser and stronger,
more
adult than the child I
would always be.
she gave me a first kiss,
a first valentine.
a first
feeling of love that's
never left.
that I still chase and chase
to this day. i
remember those summers,
hiding behind the trees
deep into the shade,
embracing,
trembling with the mystery
of what any of it
could mean.
we were both so young,
so young, our tender
hearts unscathed.