On why I don't so much mind my freckles, anymore

​On why I don't so much mind my freckles anymore;

a shout out to the arcane; 

this is a love note to summer.
 
I find myself filled with gratitude

for these sun spangles

clustering on the rounded cusps
 
of my shoulders, my nose, my ears

brown constellations, 

heat maps.
 
These are the badges of time in the light,

days graced

and golden.
 
They are tribute to the countless hours

of meandering conversation

hands waving, drawing,
 
coming to rest,

calloused memories and skill 

gently exploring.
 
Feet dangling off the dock into green water

bobbing up with the cool 

swell
 
as shadows purple and birds

change their calls to

evensong.
 
When I was five, I once stood on the bathroom sink

and glared at mirror me,

so unrepentantly spotty
 
so I pierced the skin of my face 

with my nails, 

trying to pry off
 
every

last

spot
 
They've only spread since then

and summer continues

and I
 
I will be forever freckled; and 

hope persists; and the miracle of

warmth
 
​
 
june 2015, copyright Sarah Hirsch