Brooke Elliott’s most recent poem here was Remission (May 2011).
Dream Surfer
By Brooke Elliott
By Brooke Elliott
You took too long,
so I came to find you;
I was afraid of
broken bones and
fatal scrapes,
but you were
still there,
paddling and standing.
I stood on the
boardwalk and watched,
invisible
to you, as you
drifted
in and out of sight,
like a reoccurring
dream,
paddling and standing.
I didn’t like the way you
disappeared
behind the waves,
imagination and fear
convincing me each time
that you wouldn’t
pop back up again.
I willed you to turn and
see me,
crest after crest,
wanted you to surf for me, but
you never looked up, moved
consistently,
predictably
with the swell of the tide,
like a dream
I was doomed to wake from.
You took too long,
and last night’s
lingering fog
is beginning to clear
at last.
