Post by David Nelson Bradsher on Oct 11, 2009 15:36:54 GMT -5
1
I watched her walk into the sea
up to her neck. Then, bobbing there,
she smiled and, looking back at me,
ran slender fingers through her hair,
and I became the man I’d never been,
the man I’d battled tooth and nail.
I guess the way that men are men
is less the focused alpha male
and more the boy who can accept
that he’s not better off alone,
and that the solitude he kept
will only sink him like a stone.
2
I watched her dive and disappear
into the whitewash of a breaker.
Turning and straightening like a spear,
she let a wave surround and take her—
a javelin of skin and cloth—
until she ended on the beach,
only to dive back in the froth,
a mermaid gliding out of reach.
I left my chair at once and ran,
splashing into Atlantic water,
Poseidon in the form of man.
I swam—against the tide—and caught her.
I watched her walk into the sea
up to her neck. Then, bobbing there,
she smiled and, looking back at me,
ran slender fingers through her hair,
and I became the man I’d never been,
the man I’d battled tooth and nail.
I guess the way that men are men
is less the focused alpha male
and more the boy who can accept
that he’s not better off alone,
and that the solitude he kept
will only sink him like a stone.
2
I watched her dive and disappear
into the whitewash of a breaker.
Turning and straightening like a spear,
she let a wave surround and take her—
a javelin of skin and cloth—
until she ended on the beach,
only to dive back in the froth,
a mermaid gliding out of reach.
I left my chair at once and ran,
splashing into Atlantic water,
Poseidon in the form of man.
I swam—against the tide—and caught her.
