for Maria Cadavieco, after 'Parent/child 2'

 

written for my son Thomas, some time around 1990

 




The Hot Tears of a Parent

 

'From whining wind and colder 

Grey sea I wrap him warm 

And touch his trembling fineboned shoulder 

And boyish arm.' 

—James Joyce, 'On the Beach at Fontana' 

 

 

When I walk the beach among the roiling waves 

I will think of you. 

 

When I stop at the low-tide pool

I will wish you near.

 

When you are near 

I will reach for your hand.

 

When you are too old for my hand

I will understand, and be content with your presence.

 

When the weight of my parenting is too much

I will close my eyes and think of waves.

 

When cold waves crash round my feet, when I feel the ocean pull,

I will resist, that I might return to you.

 

Long after the constellations have shifted their familiar pattern,

the atoms that were you and me will still be entwined. 

 

I will never let go.

 

 

 

 

 





Poetry by jim The PoetBay support member heart!
Read 232 times
Written on 2019-07-25 at 10:50

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Sameen
Whoa, this is fricking brilliant. I love love love it
2019-07-26



That poem was always one of my favourites by Joyce (along with "Rain on Rahoon falls softly"). Your poem is a worthy successor to Joyce's, but of course, entirely independent, standing on its own. Beautiful and poignant.
2019-07-26


shells
You are wearing your parental heart on your sleeve. This is beautiful, my mother once said to me "I have to let you go so you come back." Now I understand. Bookmarked.
2019-07-26



Hot tears are the most difficult to release, and sometimes the most releasing of all.
2019-07-25



A love of parent is eternal,
It can't be define in thousand words!
Thank u for sharing😉
2019-07-25


josephus The PoetBay support member heart!
Jim, this is simply magnificent! A beautiful prayer of commitment and love enduring forever. I've never read a more impacting poem on the subject of parental love.
2019-07-25


Marie Cadavieco The PoetBay support member heart!
Ooooh, shivers down the spine. Love of a parent for a child. Nothing, not life, not people, not time, not death, can dim that flame. Thank you for sharing this. It must have meant so much to do so.
2019-07-25