I follow the receding fingers
of the tide as it returns to sea
shells and pebbles on the sand disappear
as they spiral their good-bye's
I hear the soft sound of the water's retreat
as the far horizon comes forward to absorb me
and then, left stranded within myself
I begin my vigil to wait for you
my image stretches to surround it all
for I am the feelings of past existing
released from the invisible fire
I brush the ocean's deepest crevice
and the mountain's craggy summit
with my fingertips
and I veil the moon
with my wings
my reason for being
is seared on to my soul
by the endless sorrow of night
my reason for living
comes from my eternal quest
to escape the dark
in the great granite halls
I whirl among the alabaster statues
of the immortal gods
where the sounds of my passage
curse the lingering echoes of stillness
as I explore the vaporous rift
between your dreaming and awakening
I find...
that you are love
so now knowing this
I escape the solitude
and quietly the tide comes in
to carry me
to home
again
From – Of Light and Reflection
ponart
Copyright 1992
Patrick M. O’Neil
Email ponart about this poem or pictures
Full image plus a craggy summit from a Big Pine backpack


Reference: Collection 7, Poem ID= 143
