The Sunset Tide

Time chained me to the sand

Like a seashell on the shore

I waited –

For crabs to crawl like snakes into their holes

For fishermen to forsake the land like sunlight

For the choir of birds to sing no more

For the sea to murmur a gentle chant

And the light amalgamated into darkness

Is darkness the tide like the crashing of waves on land?

And I stood
With my feet coffined to the sand,

My folded arms entwined like a lace against my chest

My hair like threads blew in the silent winds

And my body longing to feel the tide

Is darkness the tide like the crashing of waves on land?

And still I remained

Silent and still as a rock

Am I like the grains of sand on the beach?

Waiting for the tide

Waiting for the brunette sea to wash our bodies

A tongue that will lick the land

To stain the earth with blackness

Is this the saliva of nightfall?

Is darkness the tide like the crashing of waves on land?

And I waited no more

As the sun entombed into the horizon

Darkness was the crashing of waves against my body

And the foam it created were the stars in the sky

With the crashing sounds of night creatures from a distance

Yes, darkness was the tide like the crashing of waves on the land

But with the ebbing of the tide,

At sunrise;

The rebirth of sunlight

Nothing was left from the tide

But the salt from the saliva of the night

That stained my body