Shadowing

~

I kneel down gingerly 

to become her height

her small comfortable hand 

cupping my shoulder, 

I feel her surprising strength 

a gentle pressing against my hip, 

not so much leaning on me

than propping me up

which I know is important to her 

since my troubles,

too soon my knees complain 

but I easily ignore the ache

to prolong this magic moment 

looking out to a silvery sea

that appears to be motionless but 

perpetually changing,

we watch a distant grey silhouette

perhaps a container ship 

drop over the horizon like a stone

I ask her if she will ever sail the sea, 

her answer although immediate

is clumsily qualified by proposing 

a future time when she has grown

notionally she lists the souvenirs she’ll

bring me, that I know I’ll never live to see

then previews the stories that she’ll write 

when she’s a famous author,

I send her indoors on a spurious errand

so she doesn’t see the mess I make

of trying to stand with numbed legs

as I know it secretly worries her

that I may fall again

*

© Graham R Sherwood 04/23