Lulled by Song and Heat

My sun-kissed dream is
hazy behind gauzy sheets
that undulate in the wind,
delicately. The sea-singer
learned her song, sing along
with the roar of the conch.

This is a timeless thing,
ritual, bared, brown skin,
bend the knee to the queen,
cast down your gaze and see
the salty, wet sand spreading
beneath, kneeling in the wind,
reluctantly shared by the seagull,
as he searches for morsels to eat.

Lulled by song and heat,
I will trace a spiral,
from in, to out, with my finger
and as the tide rejoins the deep,
from out, to in,
my mind will linger,
caught by the song
of the singer
and her silhouette
behind the gauze.

With one hand
to shield the sun,
I will trace her shape,
and pray to the sea,
that hope will
bring her

home… or maybe
it is I, ‘ever-receding,
that washed away
from the shore,
where she is kneeling
in ritual, bared, burned skin,

penitent
and
pleading,

“Please.”

© CG Tenpenny, 2021.