Lyrical Sunday - Play

The first poem is from Katrina, inspired by playing at Breaker Bay with her little daughter.

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The rocks are lifting now

 The playdoh years return

 "Help me climb mum"

 The tree is skiting, it beckons me to play too

 Lush growth telling time in an ocean flurry of green

 Like the world blurring into one on the roundabout,
 counting, whirring, stirring, like cookie dough

 "watch me mum"

 Skipping and balancing on planks, chipped with paint
 revealing stories of the past like a multi coloured picture book

 "hold my hand mummy"
 give me your full attention
 "come play"
 come play with me

 Let your imagination snicker and giggle on the time you think you
 could be using for other things
 kiss a tree
 follow a bug

 laugh at the clouds

 look how the bark makes faces
 feel the wind on the swings in the depth of your belly

 (this must be what popping corn feels just before it bursts)

 "come on mum, come play"
 Rescue me from up high with a cuddle and a kiss

 Keep the jaggered rocks at bay mum
 See them in the bay, piercing through the water....
 With waves, kissing them, with gentle foam
 and a soothing roar

(C) Katrina McGuinness

Here's mine: 

For Keeps

“I play for keeps!” she yelled as she jumped from the rocks.
All our lives we play.
The waves crashed, foaming white on grey.
We play at life.
Seagulls screamed, defiant in the wind.
We play at love.
I sank down lashed by the sand.
We play at maturity.
It was then that I realised what she meant.
We play at pretending everything is alright.
That she hadn't been playing.