Mother on the Beach

by Lori Desrosiers

Our young mother in her navy blue bathing suit
cream cheese sandwiches on the beach.

My brother’s nose under white cream
Mother kept him covered on the beach.

Mother carried a wicker basket
or was it a metal cooler, on the beach.

She held a towel for my brother
so he could change his shorts on the beach.

He had freckles and I didn’t
My pale little brother on the beach.

Before I die, I’d like to see the ocean again.
She’s too old, too frail to get to the beach.

We’d run into the churning surf, if it could
carry us back to Mother on the beach.