Pink skies
Shaken awake by a
Gentle touch
Dad peering down
Dressed at this hour
Stumbling around
Sleep still gripping my thoughts
Pulling, drifting, like the devil’s advocate
Clothes on, shoes next
The waves call
The pink sky welcomes
Rubbing sleep away
This beauty screams
A rush of feeling
The tinged of red in my face
The only color I can see
My white dress shimmers
I think of the Atlantic
The blue, vast creature
Deep and wide
Swirling… drifting…
Waking my senses
The moment rootless
People watching
Staring, judging
Then the question comes…
Diving in frigid waters
No turning back
Wakes my senses
The blue Atlantic beacons
Back to that shore
Many years ago
Few footprints on the sand
Trailing from the stairs we walked
More follow soon
From all sectors of the beach
A countdown begins:
Dad telling us facts
Like the first time this happened
Well before my brother or me
Suddenly, shooting in the sky
But wait… only flames
More waiting, flames building
Like those teenage years
Filled with that self-loathing doubt