The Ocean’s Farewell
A poem about a lifetime’s change
With each splash and spume of salt-soaked waves, I see echoes of my younger days chasing pails and plastic shovels swept out to sea like tiny shipwrecks, mourned only by a friend and me.
My girls don’t know of untamed hurricanes that crash on coastal shores and leave behind the gifts of changing climates, human loss. Nor did I, when hours measured as long as decades and we waited to grow up impatiently.
Hey, kid — on this, I think adults agree… aging’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
I sometimes stop and realize just how much has changed in my lifetime. From everything to computers and cell phones to the worsening climate crisis to living through a pandemic. As a parent, I wonder how my kids see the world differently than I did when I was their age.
If you like this poem, please feel free to check out my others:
