As Father To His Son Poem by Dr Ronnie Bai

As Father to His Son

You are drifting away,
a little tin dingy
from the gentle kissing waves
on the warm sandy beach of home
in the little quiet cove where love
flows like spring water
bubbly and crystal clear
which you don’t see, though
under the giant boulders
guarding the beach

Into the cold surging break water
of your own unknown world
you wobble away
under my hopeless yet hoping gaze
which you take as howling
inshore winds, though
blowing you further away

You believe you are
robust-built and unsinkable
(like the Titanic, which you scoff at)
but your lack of real skipper skill may
I am afraid
even on the calm water of the bay
see your little hull,
if not capsized
(Oh, I’d curse the God, no!)
tossed up
by the rough wake
of the indifferent passing boats
sending you high and dry
which you don’t seem to worry about
on the rugged rocks
covered with razor-sharp shells
of dead oysters and mussels
even if you think you can reach
the dark islands
just across the channel

Is that the unreachable
destination, reachable only
to yourself?

Poor as plank
you have no fuel in the tank
and no water in the bottle
dumb as donkey
you won’t admit
you can’t even tie
a proper fishing knot
or cast a baited hook
which you never bother to learn

Standing lonely
on the deserted beach
I watch you fading away
and pray that I could still teach
you all the skills you would need
to survive the high seas
of life in the world
about which I’m not knowledgeable, though
only if you would head into
a strong head wind
and a big pushing tide
that would turn you around
and send you back to me
into the safe cove
of your home
soon —