Rockhollow's Child - 164

 
Title: Rockhollow's Child - 164
Eight of Thirty
Unique Words: One Hundred and Fifty-Six

#NaPoWriMo19

When I was a child my youth was a ceaseless map.
I remember my Great-Grandfather drawing it out with no crosses,
no boundaries or warnings. I remember
this world he displayed proudly held no chains for me.

I learnt the land out back,
cut beans from vine, caught plums from high, read the weather,
adopted basic woodwork skills, filled oil lamps and lit them, took over composting, weeded my Great-Grandmother's
well tailored patch of floral planting.

I remember climbing the apple, scent of the syringa wall, taste of combining early gooseberry and mint leaf.
I remember storing a whole apple skin in my pocket as if treasure,
dangling it above the snout of our beautiful tri-colour collie.
I remember freedom in wholeheartedness.

He speaks to me in cannot and will not now.
He tells me how far I may drive,
he sends all cheques in my partner's name, vegetable seeds are sent
but females don't have vegetable plots
despite my partner's lack of interest in veg'.
It's not meant for me.
My idol has disintergrated my worth
to that of a fussy flower needing protection.
Am I not aware of my good fortune? Am I not grateful to have the best life available to a woman?

Somehow, in this garden,
I am an innocent child - genderless and blind to the binds of sex.
I surround myself with this glorious world
that knows nothing of society
- within it, protected and thriving, I know my purest freedom.