Two Hearts Together
I met a stranger
at a friend's summer wedding.
He had bright blue eyes,
sandy-blonde hair, and a voice
light but husky – intriguing.
In his tiny car,
a group of us crowded in
to get a lift home.
I was on some fellow's knee.
(That was back before seat-belts.)
Much later, he said
he was surprised by envy,
wanting me on his –
but he'd only just met me,
and of course he was driving.
When he asked me out,
he told me he loved swimming.
'Oh, teach me!' I begged.
He never did. At the beach
I got into the water.
He was used to girls
who claimed to love swimming, but
they never got wet,
instead lying on the sand
all day, perfecting their tans.
We went on a boat,
not much more than a dinghy.
I sat on the side
with the spray striking my neck.
I'd grown up on fishing boats.
That was it for him.
A girl who liked the water
for real – a keeper.
Twenty-seven years married,
two sons, many adventures ...
He made his living
from the sea: a fisherman.
It provided well.
We liked the beach and camping,
boats and the ocean, summer.
For the Summer Love series at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. Prompt #2 is a tanka suite: 6 - 12 tanka telling a story.
This is the condensed and simplified version of a true story. (I'm afraid that in the interests of the narrative I've lost some of the more poetic qualities of the tanka.)