Context for this poem: ‘Twas revealed to me in a (day)dream.
How long?
How long have you lain here
At the tip of the tide
In this attention-starved cove
All alone?
The waves have wondered
As they break over your boots,
Lacing them with foam.
They have tried to guard you
But the shoreline sends them scurrying
Washing away the old paths
Your fingers dug in the sand.
They wonder why you remain here
Like driftwood
With no purpose,
No place to call home.
The other humans, do they not search
For you?
Do they think you drowned, or do they simply
Not care?
The waves watch you,
And they wonder.
In your sleep,
Do you dream?
Perhaps you flail in a pit of nightmares
Reliving the moments when sea-storms
Swallowed you alive.
Or it may be that you cling to slumber
Because it is the only place empty
Of fear.
Perhaps you don’t wish to open your eyes again.
Perhaps you feel that you have seen too much,
And you worry that your eyes
Will no longer recognize the ocean’s rough beauty.
The cove is understanding.
Sleep, then, while it holds you on its shore.
The waves will skirt your resting place.
They will wait until you are ready to escape the emptiness.
They will be here to echo your amazement
When you wake.