Your Shroud

The wag of a finger like a whisper between waves

And yet never saw a finger nor heard a voice, I.

But felt the temptation, the alluring draw,

Of a face I long denied I’d come by.

So many hours on the snowy beach

Silently reminiscing of the bygone sun.

Frigid water laps at my boots like a leech

Draining me with the memories I shun.

Along the beach, tracks behind me

Bring back visions of our days on the sand.

And yet those thoughts washed out to sea

While I found myself a new place to stand.

That gentle breath against my ear went cold

While I stepped away from the world I knew,

And now your face and voice seem so old

To this shameful heart of mine, how tired it grew.

Droplets of seaspray and snow splash the clouds

In that dreary old sky between me and forever.

A dip in the sand covered by a hand-made shroud

Carefully embroidered by the days I tried to sever.

Wrapped in that shroud is the one I let away

To the point where no person may return

And yet stand I here in this dismal day

Trying to move while my feet slowly burn.

The tracks behind me never carried on

And this same sea still stabs at my side.

I just couldn’t force myself beyond

That fateful day where you and I died.

Your voice is in the sea singing a siren song

And every part of me wants to swim out to you.

You said you want me to keep stepping strong,

So just wait for me beyond where we can start anew.