chinese lanterns

Ophelia

You have one hour-Before everyone gets back to have dinner outside, in the sand

Waves crawl up and down- indecisive
Drawing back empty shells tangled in seaweed-
A maritime necklace

The heat radiates around the sand
And you feel a cosmic pull to the Atlantic
So you take yourself down, to the edge of it all
And slip into pearly foam
Realize you’re not alone

You’ve grown tired of starchy sails
So you become only the frame
And the water, salty and pure, laps in and out of your ribs
As I float nearby, partially submerged and out of body

And when your bony fingers grace my hair
Drifting widely, seaweed colored through the lens of the Atlantic
You are surprised that I am here
And we disperse until I am but a pale cloud when you dip underneath

And you cry and shake,
Sending vibrations
Like the heavy breath of a fault-line
But with the body of water
It is disguised