'I'm Watching You Watch The Sea' Poem by Marty McKenna

i'm watching you watch the sea.
you're all of thirteen, beginning
to find space for yourself.

the gulls aren't as impressive
as the murmuration over the river
back home;

bird shoal is my thought,
i come to, two days before, when
you swam in the sea; i walked

wet sand. you get a taste for the road;
hooked, until
someone special has you away.

having said that, you're as close
to the earth as grass seed.

first published in 'bindweed'
appeared in the chapbook 'gently but a dream'