Inspired by a dream...

He Fights like the Waves

His six year old frame crashes
with the wave against the sandy bottom.
When he breaks the surface his cheeks
look like they have been victimized by sandpaper.
He stands up and trudges on the sandbar,
approaching the point where the waves break.
He miraculously passes the drop off. He swims
into the deeper water. Eighty pounds of nerve
against eight hundred pounds
of crushing force in each wave.
The current doesn’t help. Every inch of progress
should be three. The lunar force pushing the water
has conspired to kill the boy.
The wave upends him and tumbles him to the shore.
He lays on the beach, bleeding from his mouth,
lips, and nose. The boy is polka dotted
with bruises. He stands to try again.
I have to hold him to stop him.
He fights just like the waves.