Splash Splash

For Aidan

We go down to the water

Where life comes from.

We park at the Marina

And walk across the grass

To the breakwater

My son holds my hand

And we walk out

Wind tossing our hair

And chapping our lips.

I button his jacket against the cold

And halfway out, I carry him.

We’re going to the end together,

Like we always do.

He’s silent the whole way

He has been for a year.

Since turning three

He hasn’t said a word.

He’s pointed laughed, cried

But not talked.

As we reach the end

Of the concrete finger

Surrounded by life and water

White foam crashes in and

Wets his face.

He smiles, flaps his arms, and says

“Splash splash!”

(redone 10/22/14)