If I Were Blind by Frank Criscenti

In honor of one of my favorite poets during National Poetry Month

FC 12/8/14

If I were blind

I could feel your spirit

if you were

across the waters

If I were senseless

I'd have a sense of you

You wash in the river

that flows to the sea

I feel you there

as the waves lap upon my feet

I can taste your presence

in the rain that falls.

I watched a blind boy

swimming in the ocean

calling to his father,

to sense his nearness

to the shore.

“How am I doing,” the blind boy called,

listening for his father's voice.

If I were blind

I could sense your nearness

even if you were silent

You are the ocean, the shore, 

and the voice.

The waves

fall on the sand

in murmurs

that sound like

the breeze amongst the trees.

I feel you

singing in my ear

in soft

loving

whispers.