Laughing on the beach
Leaning against a log
Laughing at almost anything
(A couple, comical with their dog)
It really doesn’t matter what
It feels so good to be here
Our daughter, stunning in her colors
and her smile
Our son, subtly connected
Our family, now grown,
no longer needing tight control by parents,
can laugh as equals
Walking down the beach
we stop to play
on a see-saw log
The four of us
enacting our collective balance
(me, weighting and unweighting
making the log tip
feeling the delight of flying
my shadow doing a seagull dance)
Low tide, sea wall
Stone stairs washed to slopes,
engulfed by barnacles
Rare rock crazed with cracks
with crystals growing in them
Seagull cries, and human seagull imitations
Climbing the concrete tower that says “keep out”
Walking together in magical languor
No where we’re needing to be
except here.
©Wendy Mulhern
July 7, 2012