Hello August and well…
It’s been and is being a funny ol’time, isn’t it.
Things for some, opening…
Things for some, closing again…
What are we to do?
Did anything surprise you, to learn you had missed?
Does anything now feel weirder, than it once used to?
The hug was a core expression,
that was the first to go.
Expression of friendship, support, caring,
love and sometimes just,
“Oh gawd mate…does this help at all?”
How our arms hung limp,
and shuffled at our sides.
Now not knowing,
quite what to do.
How our arms looked over,
with teenage disdain.
“What’s this elbow thing I’m doing?”
“Where’s my reach, my hold, my squeeze?”
“Why am I now wrapped, around your neck?
And so, we learned.
We learned to say,
“I wish I could hug you.”
We secretly smiled relief when,
“I’m a hugger”
came to hang …
and had to be held back.
It’s not the awkward we are missing.
It’s the friend on the verge of tears.
The mourning family, we can’t even see.
It’s the excited embrace we miss
from a friend,
the one who makes us gasp with laughter,
and we don’t want to let them go.
It’s the meaningful squeeze.
Extra-long because they needed it,
because I needed it.
It’s missing the hugs of
my growing children.
The one who used to hug me
forever…
her head a perfect fit in the crook
of my neck…
who now says simply,
she’s too old for that.
It’s my friends I grew up with.
Friends who’ve moved away.
It’s my family spread out in the world.
It’s my family now living far beyond the clouds.
It’s all of the missing.
The wanting to reach out,
to let you know
I think of you.
And so…
I think of you.
I think of you…
In the cup of tea I make,
that song I hear,
a remembered memory,
that pops up for no reason at all.
And in all this,
I send you this hug.
People start to
tentatively ask.
“Would it be ok…
To give you a hug?”
As we kick at the gravel,
Our face look down to our feet…
We’re like nervous teenager’s
back on our first dates.
To you I say,
YES
A resounding
YES PLEASE
And I promise to let go …
Just not yet.
Written to all of you
who I miss so much.
You know who you are.
Huuuuuggggggsssssss
CX