The Ebb and Flow Dance

Rain rush tide over me
over my sand, onto the rocks that bake on my dunes
See the abyss of stars that circle the moon waiting for the tide
Be the ocean, sure and strong, yet gently emptying and returning
to the horizon, to the sea, to the earth.
I sit alone waiting for the tide, waiting for something special
Yes, I have seen many things wash ashore, and I imagine it will always be.
But, the tide that brought you was somehow different.
The moment you beached...I knew I would always be both the same yet different.
I'm still this gentle flow, observing everything, absorbing all.
Til the day we parted. We were two elements.
I knew you would return to the sea again one day.
I am rooted to the earth. Some are free to freely roam.
There is no blame for nature. I do get lost thinking about the horizon and how eternity feels.
I know, you could not wait and I forgive you for going. I weep glass tears sometimes,
and I know the ebb and flow may not always stick around, and yes
there is a sadness when something leaves.I could count the stars, by
the the number that have left. Many have, and sometimes it wasn't always a hardship...
I have not felt a great pull toward many. You were my friend when I had none.
I cannot take away from some things, but when you left out, I saw you fading to black.
The sea took you again. I wanted to scream, cry, hate for such a thing to swallow you.
The night closed, and a new dawn approached, but still to me it was like an endless night.
It is not that I have no hope that other things won't wash ashore, because things always do.
It always seems to me that things are taken if you want them too much, if one has hubris to
imagine for even a brief time that anything really belongs to us. It can for a time, and maybe
it is enough to feel the ebb and flow for the time it's here. I never really felt like I knew you
the way I would have liked, but even though I lost another friend...I will still remember you.
You don't have to remember me...if you have to pretend the shore isn't actually there.
I suppose no sailor wants to admit there are invisible boundaries that we all come across.
I know a sailor likes to be free. And that's okay if you are a sailor...a mere man or woman.
But I am of the earth, rooted here. I don't know if it was just fate or dumb luck which foretold
whatever I was to become or why? Maybe I should have questioned it closer, but
there rarely seems a reason when you see so many come and go,
You think what is the real purpose of the ebb and flow, this shadow dance?
Maybe it is the simple fact that we can surf or survive it in any event,
Or that the dance even took place, amid the golden rays, or the cascaded bleeding color
that melts into a seeming void, not a true void, because we know we'll probably see that
golden hue again...but on some nights, some days, I'll think of the friend who sat with me
on the island until the current took him away. I know you must think I was bitter
and angry and sad, and I was...and I'm sorry if my goodbye seemed hurtful or too sad for you.
I was hurt you changed...not that all change is bad, but I did not expect it so soon. I am not
naive to think change does not prevail upon anything, water, stone or creature.
I did not think asking you to stay would be a burden. I had hoped my friendship was not
embarrassing and I know now, maybe it was for you. We are two different elements, and
different elements hardly understand each other, even though I tried to know you and I think
you got to know me well enough. In my defense, you did not really want to share about
anything save for some starting time. I always thought you were patient, but I suppose even
the most patient person cowers to time, don't they? I don't fully blame you, because I realize
all the micro-cosms that you probably forget exist in that no doubt boundless ocean.
It is easy to see where people go wrong, when you are so anchored to the same thing.
But, it does give me a wider view, because I can appreciate when special things find their way
to my shore. I never know what will happen, even if sometimes I can guess.
I still have my hope though, and maybe that's enough to pass the time with...
it does get somewhat lonely, but I know that if I'm patient enough I'll find the next person
needing my solid ground for comfort from the frigid and murky waters.
There are still going to be cautionary things on land, but maybe less scary than facing
it alone. Please remember, there was a time, you could have chose differently.
However, I will not condemn a person from choosing their destiny. I am not for everyone,
and yet one day I hope I will be enough for someone. Perhaps, it is strange that when
I am giving succor that I feel most content, and when it's gone, it sometimes feels like it
never happened, and this is the only thing that disturbs me about time. I do think you
cared a little too much about 'time', and it was one thing that divided us. It feels awful
losing a friend to such devices.But, it was something you chose and I cannot condemn it.
I do not agree with it, but we all go where we must. So, I wish you a safe journey until you
find the place you prefer to call home. Sometimes, I do ponder why you stayed so long,
when you could have left any time? I think you blame me a little for time you wasted,
but ocean was always ready to take you back...it did not exactly feel fair to blame me for
choosing a path where you're legs and heart took you? But, even in the ebb and flow
unfairness exists. I am very observant to this one true thing about the dance.
I only hope on the next dance, a friend will be more forgiving and kinder,
realizing that not all of us have as much choice in where we go or end up. Sometimes, we are
just stranded on a lonely isle, waiting for the tide...*ka-shee, ka-shee...ka-shee*
Hello there, I say. It may be an ending for some, but a beginning for another. Be strong and
look up, because you never know what is breezing in on the tide.