I lay at your feet a tapestry.

Its threads tremble with the whispers of

blue sea breezes, glittering waves,

white clamshells, green vines

ripe with black berries,

and purple twilight's tender grip.

I spread this cloth at your feet—

patterned with fragments of what once was.

A girl and her father are woven in.

He holds a coffee can and

reaches for the high brambles.

She picks from the lower, thorny vines.

They plop fat blackberries into the can,

hands-stained purple.

They pause to marvel at the color,

popping the berries into their mouths,

laughing at the sweet delight of it all.

And the pattern gentles into

wet sand slipping through the girl’s fingers,

white butterclam shells uncovered.

The father scoops shovels full of 

mud, rocks, and broken shells,

water filling in the hole.

The girl scoops another handful of 

sandy, cloudy bay water,

uncovering more treasures, 

setting them into a bucket.

The father leans on a shovel, 

looking out at the glowing bay,

looking down at the girl. 

She looks up at him in wide-eyed adoration.

The cloth shimmers now

with the black of a seal’s round body

floating lazily on the bay’s surface,

poking its head up, 

big eyes scanning the shore.

The tapestry stretches to the night sky,

scattered with stars.

Beneath the sky, a bonfire,

a family gathered, 

shadows swaying in golden light 

to a guitar humming softly.

The father’s voice carries the rhythm 

of lapping waves, steady, unhurried.

He sings, "Out of my window, looking in the night,

I can see the barges’ flickering lights."

The girl’s voice rises, clear and bright,

"Starboard shines green and port is glowing red,

I can see the barges dead ahead."

Their voices mingle, carried by the sea breeze,

"Barges, I would like to go with you.

I would like to sail the ocean blue.

Barges, have you treasures in your hold?

Do you fight with pirates brave and bold?"

The fire crackles as silence settles.

The girl lays her head on her father’s shoulder,

their shadows merging with the stars.

This tapestry,

a tapestry of sand and sky,

wrap it around your heart,

let it breathe against your skin,

the threads of a life that once was.

*The song “Barges,” is an old Girl Scout song. As folklore would have it, the song was written by a young girl who was very ill and who would look out her hospital window at the barges on a nearby canal. Legend says that she was only able to write the first verses and chorus before her death.  Others who knew her story finished the song.