I cannot separate my love for my father
from my love for the sea.
They meet and merge like the tides.
Each year when we were young,
despite his longing
to vacation in new places
to satisfy his thirst
to explore,
he would carve out a week
to gather by the sea
with my mother, my sister and me
and lean into the motion of wind and waves
that smoothed back the furrows
from his busy forehead
and I’d watch his eyes soften
to the soothing sound of the surf.
They relaxed, those deep brown eyes,
because there was room enough,
space enough,
time enough,
calm enough
to hear the light
and see girls in the sand,
even ones that were hard to see.
That great wide sky
and vast expanse of rolling water
unpinched
and turned
my father’s face
and sometimes his eyes
would find mine
and stay awile.
I lived for those moments
when the sea and he
would look at me
and smile.
I wonder at the power
of fatherlove
and inhale gratitude
for love that looks and sees
and smiles
and
believe
that my father’s love
will always find me
as surely as the shore
is found by the sea.
check out Jillsygirl’s watery June challenge!
