Across the Water

As I watched the sun set as we went across the water, gliding,

I remembered the time we rode in the back of daddy's truck,

Our hair pushed back in the wind more perfect than even momma could do in her beauty shop, even with all of her skill and years of training with a blow dryer and a brush, the perfection of wind running through hair that no human could achieve, a perfection wrought by the hand of the divine, nature and human form meeting face to face and we couldn't look it straight in the eye. We had to squint so our eyes would not dry out, the air robbing us of our tears.

Involuntarily

We wept

With joy.

My mind went back as we went across the water.

As I watched the children

I remembered

And I realized

That I didn't know then

I would never feel that free

Again.