For Emma

by Rachel R Baum

The breeze whispers salty secrets into open windows

Of this gracious house, greening in summer’s warmth.

 

Its whitewashed walls shine with welcome

Anticipating glorious childhood memories to be.

 

Then she arrives, wispy curled and beloved,

Fragrant as laundered linen, neatly folded.

 

In the sturdy, perfect boat that is her home,

She is rocked in flannel seas, leeward sailing,

 

Dreaming of vast oceans and wild places, safe

In the golden beam of her lighthouse, her family.

~

Rachel R. Baum is a Best of the Net poet, and the editor of Funeral and Memorial Service Readings Poems and Tributes (McFarland, 1999). Her poetry has appeared in Journal of Expressive Writing, OneArt, Poetica Review, New Verse News, The Phare and Raven’s Perch, among others. She is the founder of the Saratoga Peace Pod, a group of crafters who create warm items for families in crisis. For more information, visit https://www.rachelrbaum.net.