Shimmering waves
This cloudy night
The stars have failed
In skies too bright
Come hither, it whispers again
But I resist
The breeze with a whisper of its own
Admonishes me
Your place is here
On this solid earth
And the sand does feel good
Dimpled by my trail of steps
To where the ocean laps at my toes
There it is
Desire for a dream beyond my ready grasp
A tantalizing yet dangerous unknown
Stretches out beyond my ken to traverse
While I stand here
Content on my golden shore
To imagine a possibility
I may never pursue
I take off my shirt
The sun sighs, whispers again, yes, come. Come!
The next wave splashes foam onto my bare chest
Footsteps disappear beneath the ocean
Unmoved by the tides
Steadfast in the currents
An oasis of calm in the tumult
The waves break upon me
Then slide back to the ocean
Their energy dissipated
Until the sea itself
Is becalmed
I can’t tell you where it is
Can’t find it on google maps
No GPS on the cameras I’ve used
Don’t know the cove’s name
Or the nearby town
Or even which county
Mendocino?
And I never stay long
A few breaths in the sea air
Click click click
Stretch my legs; off I go
Northward for home
Always in more haste than I’d like
I used a new lens this time
Ultra-wide fisheye
A perception changer
There’s a trail there, in this shot
Leading down to the shore
Why have I never noticed it before?
I sit here
A thousand miles away
Hankering to scramble down that trail
Maybe on the next hasty retreat north
Maybe not, maybe I should, probably won’t
Maybe I’ll remember to take a pic with my phone
It has GPS
One of these days
I’ll take more time
I should really take more time
Here with a love soon to be parted
Here with a secret about myself
As yet undiscovered by me
It strikes me as an odd marker of time
That a place so grand as this is most remarkable
For the reminder that I am not who I was then
Taken during travels, 2020
The wave peters out
Just before it reaches me
Its last energy spent
As bubbling foam dissipates
My muscles relax
Tension leaves my body
While the ocean recedes
Back down the beach
I turn over the paper again
Check the wording again
The test was negative
The test was negative
I’m going to live
Another wave comes
Stronger than the last
Soaking just one shoe
Which makes a delightful squish
As I stride back up to the house
Good tidings in hand
And I
Upon the shore
Felt the searing gaze of shame
Breathe
I whispered to my heart
As I breathed the cool sea air
That eye is but your own
Turned upon you
By the shameful one
Pix to Words 