! ! To Parents

Come back, swim back… I need you… When I stood a child upon the seashore waving through the tears as first the one and then the other was taken by the tide until no longer visible in that dark sea too vasty to be thought about… then turned, and ran back up the beach to meet and greet my life.. that was, as it was; but now I run back to the water’s edge shouting come back... I never knew you, I’m grown up now, I want to meet you, ask you all the things I never asked, tell you all the things I never dared, look you in your fierce, sad eyes… come back, swim back, I need you, for I’m grown up now; I can love you without restraint; give love not ask for it… or must I wait, until the tide laps feet, then knees, then heart, then sight… to join you in that dark unknownness which may be, may be, an even greater love than that which stands here at the water’s edge as the evening water darkens, shouting swim back, swim back…