#poem, “Pretending to Forget”

I’ve been that grain of sand beneath a seagull’s black beak,

that held the tide from swallowing the beach.

I’ve been the single rock that children’s hands couldn’t reach,

that ocean’s bathed

with tides

on days

when lonely spirits dreamed of love…

I thought I had accomplished all that I came to do,

and I would be returned to where I lived,

but time has passed,

a million days,

I’ve been forgotten,

why such delay?

When lonely spirits dreamt of peace…

You might not recognise me if you see me again,

I will no longer be the one I was.

The salty shores,

the brilliant sun,

the thought of being so far from home…

I’ve done all I was asked to do, my mission’s success,

has surely been recorded and well known,

but still I linger here,

no hand has come for me yet,

perhaps I’m meant to walk these lands

pretending to forget…

C.2023, Francisco Bravo Cabrera, 22 JUL 2023, València, España.