• Neptune's Tides

    A vast, empty ocean
    stretches out before me.
    The tide recedes, baring virgin
    depths, small squirming creatures
    stranded to die.
    My pathway lies exposed. Blood and seawater
    mingle from the cuts on my feet.
    Salt encrusts my lips, rimes my hair
    in tiny diamonds.
    My fingernails are thick with crystals. I have left
    too much of myself behind already, abalone
    curiosities for the birds to pick over,
    small scraps of bone
    bleached by sun.
    Soon I will be salt and sand,
    coral in my blood,
    pearls for bones.
    Dare I wade into those blue fathoms
    for salvation, a bit of seaweed, floating
    jetsam, drifting weightless,
    waiting to wash upon foreign shores?
    The rhythm of the surf invades my restless dreams.
    It beckons with its siren song and the moon
    does not touch me.
    Seagull, stormcrow
    tell me what you see
    explain the sadness in your rough cries.
    Is this all I am destined for,
    Neptune's changeling child
    a shining snail's track of lonely footprints
    across the flat sand's endless wet expanse
    washed clean by waves?

    March '09