I Need

I need to go to the park and spin on the merry-go-round. I need to play on the swings. I need to slide down the sliding board. I need to walk through the deep leaves in a long patchwork skirt.

I need to rollerblade and juggle at the same time, as bubbles are blown towards me.

I need to drive around for no reason. With my knees. I need to open the window so that when I cry, my tears are blown away. I need to do this whilst listening to Birdsong, and think the moment is deep. I need to not use the word whilst; I would not have used it then. I also would not have used a semicolon correctly.

I need to carry band equipment back and forth on a cold tuesday night, after everyone else has gone to sleep. I need to stop and appreciate that moment. I know that it won’t happen again. I need to hop into a stranger’s van and ask them their name. They will answer me. It is pouring.

I need to hold hands with hundreds of people in an open field. I need to walk two miles in the rain and stop to watch a deer cross my path. I need to laugh near an open fire.

I need to sleep on the hard ground, next to a different fire, with different drums in the distance.