WITH FRANZ IN SURF CITY  

Sadly I see

You in your joy,

Caught in the frame of a stuttering film,

I see sadly

The near-four boy

Under blond crown with fine tanned body                                  

Sprint the shining strand

This side of the sun and the breakers,

My one true Surf City son

Alive in the Pacific spray.

           

Sad that in time’s headlong plunge

I will never know you at your best

Or comfort you when it’s worst.

           

Then we live now,

When there is no sorrow in faces,

Only the bright light of day

And the gleam of foam around your ankles.

(8/28/96)