Movies Gift Certificates

So I would take a pebble

I have never lived by the sea;
although one day I see a cottage
with old books and slack back chairs
in which to nestle a reader wearied

by the smell of seawrack blistering
in the sun, as she the sea empties her
old maid’s pockets upon the shore
as if the mark the farthest point

of her influence, darkly underlined
in the gathering sun of another day
where pebbles, wet as kidneys
bleach silently in quiet anonymity

beyond the thoughts of those who
pass by thinking this is just a spit
where land falls to the passing hands
of water and marks of lovers on the

sand who last night ran down to see
the moonlight and speak of romance
and how they would love each other
into old age, sharing their infirmities

bearing the other as a love against
the tides, so I would take a pebble
for my pocket, to keep to touch
to turn for you and all that might

have been, to share the child in me
to show you the things I cannot express
though I know you see them too
from your windows by the sea

PCW 2005