The Timeless Seas!

Can I dangle my toes in the sea one more time?

Lie out in the sun like a beached seal

without fearing I've done some crime.

Well yes,

I think I've done my time.

And maybe it's time to chill out.

At least til I'm ready to go back to work.

 

So set up the umbrella, and stand up the chairs!

Towels and blankets, sun and sand.

Set the cooler down and fill it with ice and soda.

Tie it all together against breezy airs.

And let life again be grand.

 

...And watch the little-uns run into the water.

To dance and jump in mock fear of the waves.

Watch the sun rise up in the morning over the bay

And set again over the sea at the end of the day.

 

Let me watch them again,

their little minds as fresh as the wind.

As they dance and toddle, swim and learn,

and we put strong sunscreen

so they won't turn red and burn.

 

Neices and nephews, children and grandchildren.

They blend in my mind, like a desert Mirage.

I see them merge together.

I see the child in that young mans face.

I see the old man in that young man's strength.

Dancing in and out of the same shimmering illusion.

The thought we could freeze them like that,

merely a delusion.

Change is the only thing constant.

 

But I watch these young children,

grown tall sitting next to me.

And it is their children, not them;

dancing in the waves.

And I sigh thinking one day,

they'll be like me.

 

Christopher H. Holte