I See You

I wasn’t going to post this… it seemed silly, but then, ‘What the double hockey sticks’, I’m an old guy and old guys can do a lot of crazy things. (Oh yeah, remember when HELL was a cuss word? Things are uhh, different in these modern times. I won’t go to the words that now in these times, express strong emotion.)

Introduction

The world has changed rapidly in the last 55 years. I was a young man back then, first job, marriage and children, early marine biologist, first publications written on a typewriter, and first self-taught scuba diving, many firsts, many years. It’s all a long story about a very different world that is changing rapidly. Now, after many papers and many books, I’m still writing, but from a very different perspective. Barb and I published our own books back then, Green Turtle Publications was the name of our little publishing company. We named it after the magnificent Green Turtles that climbed up on our Florida Keys Beaches every year to bury their eggs.

?We had some things in common with Green Turtles, Green Turtles lived in the oceans, and incubated their eggs on the beach; we lived on the beach and, since we were spawning and rearing marine fish, we bred clownfish and angelfish in waters from the ocean. Reproduction was difficult for Green Turtles and production of books was difficult for us. Green Turtles were, to a degree, endangered, and our little publishing company was also endangered. ?The green Turtles have survived, at least for now, and our little publishing company also did not die, it just, uh, retired.

I still write, I just don’t usually publish. If it wasn’t for Linkedin, I probably wouldn’t publish anything at all. I do have some Kindle books on Amazon, but something screwed up, they are still there, as used books I think, ?but I can’t find publisher records of any of them anymore, they just disappeared. I hear from Amazon so I think they must have flushed the records of them. The world has changed rapidly over the last 50 years and is now changing very fast. The written word follows and abets changes in human culture.

But anyway, I’m a member of the Suncoast Writers Guild and I experiment with writing, even an occasional poem. The guild liked this one and so I thought, just for the double hockey sticks of it, why not put it on Linkedin? They have been kind and accommodating with me for, I think, about 25 years, so I will add it to my collection of articles and drop it off there. ?Like most poems, please note that it is completely fictional.

?

I See You

?

I see you,

You don’t see me,

I sit on a park bench near the walkway,

Under a well-trimmed oak tree,

You are walking fast,

Pulling the dog faster than it wants to go,

You glance at me,

An old man in his last days,

But you don’t see me,

You wear a red scarf and high heels,

Your shoes click quickly on the concrete,

Your face is grim,

You are not happy, I cannot help you,

Just an old man sitting on a bench.

?

I see you,

You don’t see me,

I sit on the bench near the walkway,

You are walking slowly, a grandmother,

Holding the hand of a young child, a girl,

She has rings of dark hair spilling over a blue dress,

She looks at me with curiosity, she sees me,

An intellect not yet molded, I would like to talk to her,

Tell her about days long gone, her grandmother observes,

And she does not see me,

Quickly they move on, they walk faster,

The little girl looks back, and sees me,

Quickly they disappear around the bend,

Never to return, to the old man sitting on a bench.

?

I see you,

You don’t see me,

Just an old man sitting on a bench,

Two teenage boys, Bouncing a basketball between them,

Heading toward the courts,

The ball escapes, and rolls toward me,

A boy runs after the ball, and stops it before it arrives at my feet,

The boy picks it up and glances at me, he does not see me,

I see him, and I see who I was,

He does not see me, he runs back and they walk on,

They do not know who they will be,

This does not yet concern them,

I wish them well,

Just an old man sitting on a bench.

?

?I see you, an old lady walking slowly,

?You look but you don’t see me, your eyes are empty.

?You walk with a long coat and a cane,

You walk slowly, your nurse is impatient,

I smile at you, and you see me once again,

You smile back at me, the light in your eyes quickly fades,

?But for just a moment, you made me happy once again,

?Your nurse glances at me and does not see me,

?You have lived long in the home for the elderly,

? I used to visit you when you knew me,

? Your nurse pulls you along, it is time to return.

? I come here every day, hoping you will appear,

? You walk on slowly, you do not see me now,

? I am thankful for our 50 years, I hope I will see you tomorrow.

???

Martin Moe