one day you wrote your name upon the strand

a while there was the imprint of your face

little sneakers denting the brackish sand

the sea touching your brow, a diadem of lace

the sweetest boy that ever reached the shore

so beautiful, so wonderful, so dead

you were alive, full-coloured, hours before

the wind roughly but softly made your bed

I swore, we swore, never to forget

Alan, you’ll be the difference, yes, you will

we loved so deep, the moment that we met

then we unmet, as you lay there, so still

but came the waves and washed you away

but came the waves and washed you away

your features radiant with primal grace

your body in obedience gives room

to our expanding life, a hiding place,

a safe and silent sanctuary womb

expecting stars to lighten up the gloom

and earths & moons to fill in empty space

this mortal race awakes but to resume

the tread of daily work’s circuitous pace

our expectations show a common face

no different from what first we did presume

but nature, in its love and warm embrace

provides new life, sets flowers in full bloom

a bosom raised in graceful pregnancy

the future of a race in infancy