The Pier

I spent many a year catching fish by the buckets
Upon the Gulf of Mexico’s shoreline
From sand trout to sharks and gafftop to eel
My childhood grew wildly there
It kept me from trouble, away from that crowd
Special bonding time for Dad and me
That was, til the day that his health put him under
And stole from him his own liberty

After Dad had passed, I had lost the pier too
As a hurricane swept through its core
The grandiose place of my youth left in toothpicks
A large gaping hole at the shore
The owners vowed then to rebuild yet again
And I too vowed then to go back
To rekindle those glorious days from my youth
And to honor my Dad in return

The pier was rebuilt and life got in the way
I grew up, I married and moved
But deep in my heart, I held tight to the need
To go back to this place of my youth
So one day with my then husband in tow
I headed back to the pier at the shore
Surreal in a way that I walked off with Dad
And returned with a spouse at the door

I took in the sights of the sunset and waves
I spotted the birds and the fish
I smiled o’er the fact that I had in a way
Lived out my Dad’s own dying wish
To never forget all those days at the coast
Those days at the Gulf, long departed
For if one thing was true, it was love never fades
It remains within the brokenhearted