Ice Cream on Tuesday

Something about sound makes my heart wander, 
I try to follow where it goes sometimes 
but I always seem to get lost. 

Metal swirls of yellow and blue glint of the peeling pastel menu
As the ice cream van sings aimlessly down cobbled streets.

I don't open my heart
or my wallet,
and the ice cream van leaves me behind.

I wilt and shrivel as the van gets smaller.

Staying where I am, I try to ignore the draw of its croon as it slips out of view
but my mind starts to wonder 
What street the ice cream van went down next. 

I let myself listen and follow the distant lyrics as they dance across the narrow winding alleys.

I try so hard to be still.
Maybe I'm too late 

I race down the street to where I hear the jingle loop
Something just out of reach can taste so good
And it's the taste of sugar in the air which pulls me along as I tumble into the long grass

I graze my knee, but I can smell diesel and daisies now
As I see the ice cream van reach the turning out of town 
towards roads I don't know so well

My heart bursts like the dandelions beneath my feet,
spores scattered and hooked onto everything around me,
But right at the edge of the curb I see
A young girl crouched in the meadow.

She looks at the worms and ladybirds that crawl across the cracked dirt
and her laughter is all I hear on the quiet springtime breeze.

That's when I notice the ice cream van has stopped
Waiting for its next song,
Maybe if I ask, they'll play something new

I wonder if this little girl prefers strawberry or mint choc chip 
But I know she won't care about washing her hands

Could this be where I'm supposed to be?
Waiting in the dirt with a fistful of change. 

_{Aimee Wallace, 22, England.}