Changing Tides

The tide recedes, sand stretching out forever,

forming shallow pools of lost feelings and memory

Broadcasting my need into the night,the answering silence consuming me,

your absence a presence that I cannot escape. I become the moon, a tiny sliver,

a crescent of light shining silver,

Suspended among ignorant, obscuring clouds, unable to break free

Illuminating this empty beach with no rising sea

And I begin to doubt your inevitable return

here and there, like one last

phone call after a breakup,

trying to bring it all back:

the lost feelings, the memory

of lips and tongues together,

the union of bodies and souls,

the breathlessness.

Yet the recession ebbs out,

water retreating, sand shifting

under my feet where I should be swimming. Gritty reality clings to my skin,

the emptiness overwhelming,

your absence a presence that I cannot escape. I become the moon, a tiny sliver

of silver casting just enough light

to see the empty beach, gathering my strength to bring you back,

Broadcasting my need into the night,

the answering silence consuming me

while I wait, suspended among the ignorant clouds obscuring me from you.

Waxing and waning, ebbing and flowing,

preparing,

for your eventual inevitable return.