three small words...

And I am
only just beginning to realise,
while we are apart...

That photograph,
it wasn't a photograph at all.

It was a bright red flare.

You fired it up
into the night sky
(that wasn't a night sky
but the world wide web);

It burst open the sky
with a blazing message
for all to see...

It said,
simply
& directly...

I

AM

HERE.


And I,
I saw that flare/photograph.

It was the first thing
I had noticed
for quite some time.

It caught my attention,
a welcome distraction
from the
painting & drawing.

And
I took my boat
(that wasn't a boat
but my art)
out into darkened waters...

Drawn on,
mesmerised,
led & guided

by your photograph/flare.

Finally,
after many months
(or maybe mere moments)

I found you.

You did not need rescuing.
You had been
very, very patient,
perhaps a little lost in prayer.

Indeed,
if I am to be painfully honest:

It was me that needed
some saving.

Nevertheless,
you looked relieved
& pleased to see me.
I pulled you into
the safety of my boat/art,
and hugged you
until you were
no longer cold.

Your smile
was not a smile at all,
but a bottle
bobbing up and down
on the crest of waves.

My smile, offered in turn
was not a smile
but a tiny
handwritten note
inside that bottle.

And that smile/note,
consisting of
three small words...

It simply,
directly
reads:

I

AM

HERE.


(c)Brent M Harpur, 2012.

"We cannot save people, we can only love them." (Anais Nin)

-For E.