Waters Beyond Words
Where are they now?
Those who, smiling, stood upon my seashore,
by an ocean’s sorrow.
Their voices are the wind, diaphanous,
thin record in my slowly darkening mind;
but, I see no record of their footsteps
impressed upon these sands of cruel time.
Beyond my sight,
across the shifting waves, through opaque clouds,
my past has hid itself;
their faces fade into the failing light.
What sense of grief is this? Such strong, slow grip,
bites deeper than the springs where salt-tears rise.
I wept when days were raw; now they weep me.
My words speak not
these inner thoughts that I cannot express.
A loss too long, too far,
too near absorbed, and so, become my own.
The shores of this swift life are swept by waves,
eroding life away from all held dear.
This storm of fleeing souls will never cease.
© Simon J Ashcroft, 2023
