Sea Mist Rose

She gripped the railing
lightly, as sea mist rose,
diamond wisps, throes,
thrashing the seaborne
madness in flurries, so
mesmerized by moans,
as the waves and wind
complain ’bout the cold.

Daughter of the ocean,
sand between her toes,
bares her face to Luna,
slow to rise. Dusk holds
the moon’s ebon robes.

She thinks herself alone,
but I saw her at the rail.
Her cheeks, pallid, cold,
bloomed in roses’ swell.

On the bench, I sat, and
she saw me. She smiled,
like a sunrise. Fleeting,
she is a sun rising high,
and her arc tips toward
silent, fleeting goodbyes.

In time, she left, drifting
away. ‘Neath her footfall,
the dock’s creaking plank
belied this aching silence.

So, I watched the sea alone
and wondered if those rails
might hold a bit of warmth
where her hands held on.

© CG Tenpenny, 2022.