Crown and Bough

Monday 30 April 2018

Huge Blue




Huge Blue
(For Jack)

You were three when we moved north,
near the sea.  That first time
you took one look, twisted off your clothes
till, bare as the day you were born,

you made off: I had to sprint,
scoop you up just as you threw the whole of you
into its huge blue -- or you might be swimming still,
half way to Murmansk, that port you always dreamed of seeing:

I once flew, about your age:
strong arms held me hard,
hauled me down so my salted eyelashes
stuck together, sucked blue dark:

I didn't know how to remember
until you opened your arms that day,
sure that the world would hold you
and it did: grown now, and half a world away,

I hope your huge blue
is beautiful with stars
as you leap, eyes wide open,
no ghost of me on your back.

by Pippa Little

3 comments:

  1. This made me tear up! How important to pause and contemplate such things!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete