Deserted beach

Vacationers gone

To the north,

The brisk cold wind

To the south,

Warm sun melts

Frozen defenses.

Some low and frothy

Others large, choppy

Yet all part off the same

Immense ocean.

And the echoes of past

Self-promised accomplishments

Drown in the crashing serf

As the sea moves onward

Ever onward

In tidal motion.

I release the weight gladly to

the wind, the sun, the serf.

On the return, I track

The small yet beautiful prints

Where my path

Met land and sea.

And that is all I can ever

Promise myself—

Solid steps in the sand

And beauty

On the edge of

The immense unknown.

For now,

I don’t have to be the ship

That sails for distant harbors.

I can be the one that

sings and moves.

I feel, no,

The tidal motion

Right here.

I surrender and smile.

I surrender and sing.

I sing and the wind

Carries my song back to me.

I walk where land meets the sea

I walk…

And that’s enough for me.

© 2004 Kira Carman