OctPoWriMo day 17 Notes from Strawberry Fields

Today's prompt was to write about a place we had been and take others there. Having just recently finished a poem of that sort about Gettysburg I was at a loss for anything to say about other places I had been, so I wrote instead about some places I dreamed of going to. As I was writing, though I thought of a place I had wanted for a long time to see, and finally got to in 2011, thanks to a dear friend.

NOTES FROM STRAWBERRY FIELDS

On the worst night
(At least till then)
Of my young life
The world intruded on my football game
With a tale of death in New York City.

On the tv I watched it all
Mourners the world over
Wished I could be there
With others who felt as I did.
In times to come I
Wrote and dreamed of those days
And that place
And knew I'd make the trip
And find Strawberry Fields.

It was 30 years before it happened.
Before a dear friend and I
Stood in front of the Dakota
And at the mosaic across the street,
Memorial to a dream.

I who had been the girl of 20
Wondering what sort of world
I was coming of age in,
Now a woman of 50
Wondering what sort of world
My children are coming of age in.
Stood with the dear friend
Sharer of the dream,

It was a frosty February day,
But we were not alone.
And we helped a group of young women
Trying crowd into a picture together.
And I thought:
Here are these girls who weren't even born
That dreadful december night...
And they are drawn to this place
To stand together.

I was so glad to stand there
With the dear friend
Hoping she knew how much it meant to me
Not to come here alone
At least the first time.
(After all "Dreams you dream together are reality")

And I still believe in magic
And dreaming impossible dreams.
And all you need is Love

Just Imagine.