the beryl ocean foams and fizzes at the breaking of the day,
washes salt deposits and driftwood ashore.
I have spent my hours as a spendthrift—
luxuriously time passes through the
cracks in my pruny fingers;
I'd of been a seafarer in another life.
let the sunset now subdue the horizon,
slip it underneath its crimson tongue,
and wash it down with the ocean.
I have written our names in the sand
just so. The tide kisses your initials
a little more each time.
the crabs hide in a handful of sand,
writhe around in our dollar store nets,
and bear their pitiful pincers to the air.
I have walked these shorelines at night many times. I am unaffected; the soles of my feet have been pinched before.
the amethyst ocean moans and heaves
deeper and deeper still
into its mysterious, merciless depths.
I have swam far out until my sides burned, my legs cramped up, and you shouldered me onto a light blue sandbar.
I am yours, sailor. I am yours, father.
I am yours.
