We took the train, one day,
a Sunday that a photograph
suggests was set in summer,
I remember how the wind
wound whimsically round
the wilderness of our youth
as we watched waves crash
currents upon crushed cliff
as we came closer to watch
those tides slip out further,
pulling from us the laughter
we’d not learned to control
and carrying it on to places
we didn’t know to imagine,
each of us an island uncharted
yet to pin our point on a map.
Three cousins, coming closer
to the shore of those decisions
and a mother, watching us
laughing, learning, growing,
swimming and moving. Out.
All words and some of the photographs by Damien B Donnelly
Damien B. Donnelly 
Oh, the tide caught your laughter and carried it far away over the sea … what a wonderful thing!
It was a joyous day and we are lucky that we still share those days today 🙏🙏
The girls texted me yesterday when they saw the poem and remembered the waves and the day and the laughter like it was yesterday
Cousins are a special relationship that we often lose as we become adults. I certainly lost mine. (K)
Mine are still right here, on front and behind me, cheering and laughing and falling over 🙏🙏
Lucky!