“Heart of the Tidepool” by Jane Beal

I sat down to listen
and in the silence I saw
a grand house in the future
with light shining behind it.
The door opened,
and my husband came out,
our two-year-old son Samuel
still clinging to his left knee.
Then my little dog, Joyful,
burst out into the green yard
and barked fiercely
at the shadow-men walking by.

I saw myself once more sitting
by the tidepool—a surprise.
I was myself, a woman grown,
not a child, but still naked.
There was glass in the tidepool, shards of glass,
and sometimes the water became all glass.
Then it changed back, to just shards,
and I knew they were my pain.
Nevertheless, there was something gold
in the water. I reached in and drew it out.
It was a gold bracelet made of hearts. I put it on.
There was a gold ring with an amber stone on my left hand.
My husband appeared on the beach.
He was naked, too.
I stood up, and we walked away from the tidepool
holding hands.

Then, I didn’t see myself,
but I saw Jesus
walking on water toward me
and the light was all around him.
It was in him, radiating out
from him, and I gave him
my heart.
He took my heart in his hands,
and when he did,
I went inside of his heart,
and rocked there, hidden in his love.

Jane Beal
Sunflower Songs (2012)