Gentle man

 Gentle Man 

John Clare Stokes  

  My the splash you made upon the shore  

Nearly drowning us in your under tow  

Losing the glasses just bought from the store 

 Leaving us spinning  in surf to and fro.  

You were born for greater shores than these 

 We imagined you as a Tsunami wave 

 Raging to a boil from Oriental seas 

 Lifeguards frantic the many to save. 

 Instead you came gently to the shore 

 For not all waves are born to kill 

 A playful push to the ocean floor  

Came so far just our joy to fill. 

 Thirty-six years hence we stand 

 And as a new wave roaring comes 

 We brace and clutch our glasses in hand 

 My how you splashed our gentle man.

Landon Randolph Stokes

August 25, 1988