By the Sea

So long since the pebbles that meddled amongst

The rougher stones buried over ancient bones

That made islands of their own.

So long since the sea line brine was washed

Back into the greyish shine.

So long since the air that soothed faces making them

Young again. When the wind that ruled the world

Unfurled, and seemed somehow, heavier.

It shook the loyal green grass like an old fellow

Messing the hair of precocious young Lads.

Here, the sun finds its match in the sea

And where the two meet, is only hearty glee,

And such abundance.

But by the sea I felt strangely empty. As light as a gull.

They chatter nonsense, between mouthfuls of fish

Going far inland where I am now, all hemmed in.

But its better to be an anaemic white beaked bird

Than a beached jellyfish.

I remember now, the spineless stranded scarlet orbs

Dropped by a thousand on a wave, like broken clocks

Destined to sunbathe, one last time.

Was the tide half way in?

 As a child I awed at the tug and shrug of a distant moon

When the ocean loomed- to and fro, first fast then slow

And even a Kings golden slippers could drown

As silly keeps of sand and hope went down

As a micro titanic of my young, and stupid age.

When I go back to the shore with its water beat gnaw

I will catch myself in that air again.

Where the past lives.

In a brightly painted hut,

Out there,

By my sea.