Last We Met (To Dad) Poem by Danny Draper

So long since you and I
Had walked upon a sandy beach
Its grains like blood within you just beyond reach
The chaos of its grandeur,
Wind and gulls intrude a desolate solitude.

That night we ate a merry meal
Such would kings suffice
Beer and fish and oysters
And drank each others company,
In talk and peace and quiet.

Then in crisp sea air at midnight
At the bottom of a billion stars
In the tranquil blanket of darkness
Returned you to your little room,
In my wifes late model car.

In the morn we fished the tide
From the walkway by the bank
My wife and daughters
My father and I,
Watched the current flooding by.

Like years it drained
Beyond our notice
The ebb of a tide once high
And deposited debris upon its shore,
‘neath the gaze of a tireless sky.

Then all too soon after finding you
We kissed and cuddled prepared goodbye
Said and knew we loved each other,
And I will cherish that time now,
And where ever the morrow lies.


2/8/2003