if I want to smile
I tie my thoughts to paper kites
and send them to the water's edge.

I remember where we stood.
toes kissing toes
set like concrete footings in the sand

to steady frames
to hold our arms finding backs finding fingertips
beside the ocean floor.

if I want to smile
I turn your brim around
just as it was that day

making way for faces nesting faces
lips taking lips
and somehow salt marsh anchors

kept our souls from lifting past the
morning sky, or digging in like pebble crabs
away from light.

I can almost touch the linen twine you thread
as I hold still for you,
your coral beads are sewn into my dreams.

Angel Man with ocean eyes
I sigh for you.
your soul - gently woven to my own.

if I want to smile
I hear the birds that called your name
overhead overland overus.

along the shore they spy
to find the end of sea
looking for horizon walls to wing.

if I want to smile
I tie my thoughts to paper kites
and send them back to you my Angel Man.

9 sep 99 Port Aransas