Michael Shepherd - ! ! 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…

Michael Shepherd

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-parents/