Did I Tell You I Went To the Beach

Did I tell you I went to the Beach last week? The wind picked up mightily as I Stepped out onto the hotel verandah And the tall royal palm trees lining the courtyard Lifted and bent their majestic fronds And they whipped and wept in the west wind With a sound like a thousand haystacks being thrown Into the air And, yes, that same week, Oh, The very next day The wind dropped to a soft breeze as I Stepped out onto the Hotel Verhandah The royal palms lining the courtyard Graciously dipped and bowed Their crowns of pointed fronds With a sound like a thousand mothers shushing their Crying babes The sea sparkled dazzling pinpricks of light Each and every sparkle sent My heart and soul back to 2012 I gaze upon another sea, the vast Indian ocean Rushing towards the tip of Africa, Behind me up a steep, shaded street, In the small, sweet nursed clinic My mother lay still and breathed less and less every day Until, with a sound like a thousand whispered goodbyes, She died