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