IN THE HOUR BEFORE NIGHT

In that hour before the doors of home

Lock down for the night,

In that last hour before the doors close

Against the cold of night,

In the hour before

A child’s freedom to wander ends for the

day,

In the hour before dinner—

A frightened child slips quietly from the

house

And rides toward the beach.

High above the sands along the bluff,

She rides down to the end of the track

And back to its beginning—

Riding until it is safe again to go home

To be locked away from the open sky.

     Listen to the waves

     Listen to the air whistling at your ear

     Listen to the seagull cries

     Hear the grass grow

     Look at the far horizon

     Look at the largeness of the sea

     Look at the bigness of the sky

     Feel the distance they have traveled and

     touch

     Listen to the waves

     Taste the sky

     Trust the wind to carry away

     All that must not return

     To be locked in with family

     In a home closed in for the hours of

     night

     Trust the wind to blow clean and fresh

     Through a heart choked by thorns

     Hear the ocean sing of far away shores

    Taste the seasoning of distance in the

     air

     See as the sky sees

     Feel the wild freedom of the wind

Back and forth along the bluff

The child rides in the hour before

Night locks down and around.

Back and forth above the sea

She flies with the wind

And dwells where distance dwells

Till windswept and free again,

She turns toward home.

#ChildhoodDepression #SeaPoetry #MeditationPoem #Self-Healing