To Build a Bridge

We used to hold each other tight, my mom and I

Standing in the flowing grass, looking out over the white cliffs towards the ocean.

Feeling the breeze tangle our hair together, laughing, our touch a warm contrast against the wind.

But now we are on separate cliffs.  A deep chasm parts us.

Angry she turned her back to me, and wouldn’t respond to my pleas for her to turn around.

I couldn’t stop looking at her back for a long time.

 

A few years ago she started waving to me, and now we wave to each other every day.

I’ve been cutting down a tree to span the distance, I hope she’ll still want me when I get there.

It took a lot of work, but I poured all of my love into it.

I finally felled the tree and I’m finally going to hold her again.

But now it’s tumbling, tumbling, tumbling down the chasm . . . it wasn’t tall enough.

I thought -- I really thought it would work.  

I really thought it would work, but I guess I was dumb, and I guess I was wrong,

and when I look up at her face there is no expression.

 

I envision bridges, the ones with the strong arch and the triangle supports, the waving rope bridges,

a glass bridge, a stone bridge, a pulley system with a carriage you glide across.

I would study architecture for her, but in my heart I know that gap can never be bridged

I never would have guessed that coming out would separate us permanently.

If I could only build a Bridge.

Reviews

[Onlyme]

Felt a tear in my eye, reading this poem. About falling out with a loved one. And like you bridging the gap to return to the old ways you ones had. Feel for you. Relate big time.