MISS CAPE COD

I dreamed of you
anticipation grows
to come back, I know it's been awhile
to come home-with fleeting memory
I recalled-every detail; beach sand, dunes, salt
prodigious grases, still you kept me waiting
let my heart die, turned your back-became
bitter like a lover spurned; denied me-kept your distance
made me a refugee-cast me off- In time though
all has changed, we grow older, bad memories fade
we cling to debris as a life line, you threw to me, I took it
with one last chance to claim my native son status. to breathe in
the salt air-I missed it, to taste on my tongue-again
still remember though, we are complicit
all is forgiven-for now, you and I -together, reconciled

by Michael Perry