Palestine Embrace
His embrace was warm and kind
Yet I fought it
White knuckled accepting his gift of seeing me
A moment so many would have missed
His golden hued eyes
Caught the glisten in mine
Filled with joyful prayer filled not yet tears
He saw me
Looking out at the water
Lapping up by the rocks
Now his scent
Of Palestine embrace
Lingers on my collar
And I feel
Seen
White knuckled embrace
Passing by with wonder in his eyes
Chasing after dolphins he stopped
And saw me looking on
Caught up in a moment
Songbird puffing out her chest to sing another song
He stopped
Wonder saw another
That once in a lifetime moment didn’t matter so much when he saw the tears in my eyes
Faces open
Catching one another
Seeing me
Are you okay?
An open invitation
Not expecting a buttoned up
Envelope sealed kind of answer
The page was open
Blank
Laying on the table
Letting me write whatever truth existed in that moment
Yes I replied
Truthfully
Really
His open invitation to be seen
Rolled over into another bare invitation
Come!
He said
There’s dolphins over here
Come look!
Warmth in his face overflowing with compassion
Seeing me
Stranger
Danger?
Letting down my guard a little
I followed down the sand
In his footsteps
Till wonder met with his
A churning of the ocean mixing seas together
In this perfect moment
As they leaped above the sea
Pacific and Mediterranean
Drinking in the wonder others might miss to see
He offered
His hand
So I could get a better view
Up upon that rock
This stranger gave me the better view
And later on
He passed me on the stairs
Although I’d already left them
Walking ahead with my thoughts
Strangers passing on the stairs
But he saw me
again
With deep recognition
Offered an embrace
Saying, looks like you could use it
Sometimes I do
Was my reply
An awkward sort of moment
Response left out there
As I wrote upon the pages
Of our brief interaction
His arms were strong
Intentional
As he embraced me
For a moment I relaxed
Into this strangers kindness of an open ended ask
To let me be seen
For a moment
Then he embraced me on the other side
As if the right side of my soul needed
Just a little more
I’m okay
I stuttered
White knuckled
Suddenly
Stranger
Danger?
Those golden pools of light
Saw me in a second
So used to to floating by
Past perfect strangers
Not letting them see
My soul bearing open
Praying
Breathing
Deeply
By the sea
April 9 2025
© Naomi Allen, Beautifully Nay
All rights reserved
