(Photo courtesy of Bob Brink, Pouch Cove, NL)
You towered over me
You were strong and invincible.
I was thankful for the currents and tides
which maneuvered you into my view
in time for me to see your greatness
and see you glisten in your sweat.
Despite the scars and hidden fractures
you were defiant of any weakness
and when challenged, you rose higher
to become a pinnacle of strength.
But looking back,I can scarcely believe
how much of your strength still lay beneath.
Then one day you lay placid.
I knew that you were dying.
Being withered by a relentless heat
and tormented by the rain and waves
that left pockets of erosion on your face
where the water flowed like tears.
You no longer possessed the strength
to roll over and rise again
and your moans were sounds of agony
as the pieces crumbled, one by one.
I knew that before the morning dawned,
you would succumb, you would be gone.
But gone where I ask?
You are where you once were.
You can now free fall from ten thousand feet
or dive to the ocean’s deepest depth
or tumble through the waterfalls of Africa
or lie placid near a sandy beach.
How could you have possibly known
that such an eternal world could exist
where freedom flowed and the scars you bore
could disappear into the mist.
Your existence had moved to another phase
but I still yearned to see your face.
Your mightiness did not lie
in just your strength and physical size.
All that died is what I thought you were
when you were compressed by space and time
and tortured by the constant storms
that left the fissures on your face.
And though the mightiness I witnessed
was a split second in your long life,
you had time to alter currents
and slow the ebbing of the tides.
And now I know, as my grief abates,
you could be the teardrop on my face.
Copyright June 2020 Barry King. Though copyrighted, feel free to share a a link to this page if you like what you have read.
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