Did You Ever... Poem by Francis Meyrick

Did you ever

(thinking of my Mother, who died when I was young, thinking of my daughter, and remembering walking alone along a quiet beach in Angola, Africa, with the waves coming steadily ashore...)


Did you ever,
stand on a shore,
and gaze
out to sea?

Did you ever,
sensing more
ponder
eternity?

Did you ever,
watch the birds
hear my words
and think of me?

And when you knelt
to pick up some sand
in your hand
did you think
with a shout
of Time
running out?

As grains sifted
through your fingers
and then drifted
to the ground
did you measure
Life's brief pleasure
by the weight
in your palm?

I have loved you
with a heart ache
I have touched you
with my dreams.
And you know
however foolish
and sentimental
that it seems

that I
am a lover
a giver
a soul
fragile
and trusting
bewildered
not whole

and nothing
will ever
fill
that black hole

that was made
when the spade
threw sand on the lid.
beneath which
strangely
I knew that you hid

I loved you so much
that even now
your touch
is warm
on my face
all the way from the place
where I think you walk
and ponder and talk

along a sea shore
with your mother in turn
where you can explore
and listen and learn

I just sense that there
the wind plays
with your hair
light shines in your eyes.
and beneath those skies
more powerful
than any word

your laughter
is heard...