Standing by the ocean

I am standing by the ocean

My toes digging into the wet sand

The way sandcrabs do

It is nighttime and the moon watches my every move

How many times have I been here before

This kind of life grows feet on my timeline

I am young but old enough

To feel the weight lift at the mouth of a shoreline

How does the salt-licked air heal each time

The water is loud against the quiet

Of three am

The shine of a separate universe

Shivers against the tide’s spine

I am waiting before the sea

My eyes searching beyond the horizon

For a ship full of ghosts

It is nighttime and the moon whispers

Into the wind

That the weight of you

Is not here to stay

That surely I must know by now

That no feeling is forever

A single woman

moonlit hours