water crashes on high-tide shores
stirring sand and seaweed
long after yesterday’s storm
rain’s drizzle dampens driftwood forts
resurrected again and again
by children
you and me
a lifetime ago
where stingray
sailing beneath the surf
fly gracefully together
toward sand bars of calm
a gathering of family
you and you and you and me
a lifetime ago
little blue penguin footprints
trace out from burrows
disappear into water
on instinct
to provide
for their offspring
you and me and we
a lifetime ago
I can’t tell you of the sorrow
I felt today
when I looked into that ocean
and did not see a stingray
there were no webbed-foot
depressions in the sand
no scurrying of little penguin feet
telling a story of a life
your life
my life
long ago
this is the same ocean
there is nothing that separates
those creatures from me
but a distance of waves
a passage of sea
but my heart is stretched
and torn across hemispheres
by you and our kids and me
a lifetime