Enough

A poem/short story about human connections and flying a kite

Enough

I could see him smiling from the bench, watching us as we walked

across the street. I held the kite, she held the tails, he held his smile.

We walked to the middle of the field, dragonflies kept us company,

and seemed to coach us about what to do,

and I instructed her to watch,

and to take over when the time was right.

It was windy enough but, the wind was shifting, so we struggled to launch.

She had never flown a kite before, even though her dad had bought her two,

no one ever took her to fly, so I wanted to get it right.

That’s when I heard his voice, “Just let the wind take it, the tails will tell you

where the wind is, and where to go.” And they did.

“It’s so beautiful” she said, as I handed her the kite.

And from the bench I heard him say,

“You just brought me back; I use to take my son here to fly a kite.”

So, it wasn’t perfect as the wind shifted, and the kite came down, but it was enough,

and so many dragonflies seemed to be suspended in air.

As we walked back to the car, she said, “Hey, that man is gone.”

And I thought, maybe it was enough for him too.

When we got back to the car, she started to write

a poem about kites and dragonflies,

Perhaps when he got home, he did too.