Eliot

A woman, a mother
looks from a sunset
to see her son
poised between
land and sea,
child and man.

Do I dare
dive in and cleanse
the dirt of childhood
from my skin:
sun lotion so lovingly applied,
dust from games played in the streets,
half-melted ice cream on my hands?

Do I dare
dive in, dissolve
maternal love to find
flawless pearls
of purity
for me beneath
the flawless tropic sea?

All she does is watch
and suffer a change
into something strange
and emptier than before.