Plea

Dan Slee, "Child walking alone on a beach," 2010

I remember walking along Virginia Beach
under a low gray sky, feeling loneliness as
vividly as only a child can feel it—piercing,
long as the shore, empty as the wet sand
where I walked. I’m sure my family must
have been close by, somewhere. I’m sure
it was only a passing moment. Still, here I
am, brave woman stronger than the child
I was could have imagined, and loneliness
still circles me, makes me call my invisible
friends by name: “Oh come visit, and stay.”