Century Park
A nine-year-old girl
often wakes up under the aging palms
in a deserted park, to stay the day
a bright afternoon squandered again, the heat rises above the grass.
The girl ambles to another area to sit lest someone discovers she's alone.
A pile of yellow dog-eared zoology magazines lay untidy to her side.
A soft caress upon her cheek to lessen the dry heat, a breeze flits by.
The fleeting wind quenches the thirst felt from drinking from the park's boiling water fountain.
The girl squints down the street, trying to eye people and get an idea of the time it is?
Wondering and squinting, thinking about echoing slams of cabinet doors and chairs scrapping. Families make their way to dinner and talk about family things.
The girl begins imagining if she can return home without being seen.
Is it okay to go home?
The young one closes her eyes again.
I do not belong.
About this poem
I wrote this poem because I was lonely as a child after being told to stay outside all day. I was never sure when I was okay to go home.
Font size:
Translation
Find a translation for this poem in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Century Park" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/126296/century-park>.
Discuss the poem Century Park with the community...
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In