I hear the moon calling
to her lover,
the sea.
She speaks in dainty beams
of opalescent light--
a beacon, gazing
and listening
to his roaring replies in the surf.
But sometimes, when she's just
a vulnerable sliver
scratched in the sky,
curving like the bow of Artemis,
I listen more closely
than even the ocean
and only I hear
a satin-silk whisper.
~Did you know that I need you, dear,
more than anything else?
When you may feel me,
gently guiding the rise and fall
of your breath,
you can't know that without you,
I would be a rock among rocks;
empty in the emptiness,
resigned to be alone...
So the leagues between us, love,
truly aren't so very wide.
She speaks to the stars,
not to her busy lover,
but I know that he hears her...
and as I stand
with waves tickling my toes
and sea foam up to my knees,
the moon above illuminates
an angel's epiphany.
If I could be the moon,
then you would be my ocean.
You feel me,
but you can't know
how you fuel me...
and maybe the distance
between us isn't really
so very wide,
after all.
But to me it's still a chasm,
growing wider with each step I take.
I turn my back to the water,
remembering a bridge
and a jagged crack.
Saltwater teardrops hiss as
my toes brush baking grains of sand.
One by one, the coals fall between us
into eternal shadows
disappearing into darkness
before they burn out...
if they ever do.
The smoke makes me dizzier
than the drop below,
but the moon doesn't mind fire--
it's all the same,
and it is not the sea.
You know, crossing this gap
might be possible,
if I imagine your waves
soothing the flickering coals,
and I see cool seaweed fingers
enveloping my feet
with a kiss of salt.
We could be together...
and across this bitter divide,
there would be just one set
of footprints outlined
in the white ash,
because you picked me up
to carry me
in your cool waves.
Honorable mention
Adding your comment:
I'm so glad you liked it. Best of luck in the contest, though I don't see why you'd need it with "Duncan," which is marvelous.
