Coast

Trawling the beach for treasure helps me to relive
These thoughts of you that smell of salt and spice –
Sun-wrinkled hands and the glint of islands in your eyes
Constant as the sound of the sea – what wouldn’t I give
To once again remember this stuttering coast calmed?
I’m tripping over the detritus of a loveless ocean
Flinging grey sand to feed the wave’s wandering motion
Watching you watch me from the shade of a palm.
I stoop to a seashell and save it from your memory
Placing the hollow carapace to my ear of choice
Listening as the still-soft sound of your susurrous voice
Seeks its counterpoint in the tentative roar of the sea.
A spotted grey fish flashes in the water like a comet
Streaking through the sky – you forget this moment.

Published in Coast