ready to support me
under its wings

On the horizon
there's always a bird
I can't identify
but it looks like you
when it beckons

At times the horizon
seems a fingertip
away, your smile
wavering
in summer heat

I am determined
to walk
to the horizon
but I never get closer
than your memory

Always, since I was five,
a part of me
that is inward gazing
alone on our steps
while everyone slept
and a boy
who ran down alleys
to kick a can
outgoing as a baseball team
the two needs
like a juggler's dream
of planets
in orbit around his head

 
No escape
from snow's chill hand
except to return
to those days
filled with snow forts
beside the road
                darting out
we kids
to toss a snowball
at a priest
or a lady in a long red coat
                   & now
when flakes fall
a shudder
cold as winter's clout

I circle back in time
to find a fishing rod
on a rock
a boy hunting shadows
in the waves

I Iive on a road
with the same name
as my boyhood street
the circle of time
noose and wreath

Circle this world
with me
to find the breath
of him who breathes
the wind into the sea

The sea has a way
of molding you
to its wishes
 
one minute it breaks you
with mountainous waves
then soothes you
with ripples
touching the shore
 
I've gone inland
and missed its power
its faint salt scent

and a boyhood I spent
in the arms of the sea

#sedserio #poetrylovers #markgordonauthor.com