Two Sides to the Sea
The first time,
It was a mirror.
Reflecting back the joy of youth,
the naivety in innocence.
Its waves weaving a melody,
as soothing as a mother’s lullaby.
Running barefoot across foam-tipped laughter,
no fonder a friend was there.
Twinkles of blue melded,
its end obscuring the sky’s beginning.
A jellyfish pulsed lightly near the dock,
but how would its sting be anything but soft?
No lovelier a feeling of home,
the sun’s kiss lulled me deeper, deeper, deeper…
The second time,
It was an abyss,
endless mass of darkness,
stretching farther than fingertips could touch.
Clouds painted the horizon
dry shades of ash and smoke.
Waves rose as ribcages breaking,
shrieks of the wind echoing in the seagull’s cry.
A deceptively light caress,
silently stealing pieces of me with every receding wave.
Shadows of what once was,
a life without a soul,
its whispers beckoning me deeper, deeper, deeper…
Some say Atlantis fell
for believing power akin to light,
a civilization drowned in its own reflection.
Some say sirens were never women,
but simply the sea rehearsing grief,
wisps of wind possessing a woman’s throat
to guide the lonely home.
A myth, a wronged, a tide.
Dare I ask
what’s known of the sea,
save the stories it leaves behind?
Give and give and give,
never to be returned whole.
Once-lovely seashells left chipped, thoughts left fragmented,
even the light breaks itself
on the rising waves.
And yet,
its lure lingers within,
a silently insistent tug under the ribs,
unfamiliar memories of a time not lived,
a connection that echoes in the blood.
For weren’t we all once creatures of the sea?
Life shaped and evolved within its cradle,
once did exist a time
when a heartbeat was naught more
than remnants of a tide bygone.
Tonight,
Leaning over the cool railing,
Watching a warped reflection
fracture throughout a single ripple,
over a single second,
it reminds me
the smallest tremor
reveals depths never ordinarily seen
And that there are always
two sides to the sea.
Comments