Seaside Town

Fingertips just brushing,

itching to be intertwining.

Stretching across dusty decades 

to touch shattered remains.

Tumbled ruins echo

down driftwood back alleys.

Deserted storefronts all boarded over,

whispering your bountiful name.

A cold grey sea

and cries of mournful memories 

forgotten in the whirl of long distance.

Alone, and without the comfort of time.

Laughing, crying, hurling soft hearts,

never taking quite enough care.

Risks, trysts and bliss.

Still never mine.

Yawning chasms, time all unchanged 

at the backs of long & dark passages.

Peering, straining, stand on tiptoe,

arms raised desperately towards darkness.

Through frozen air, choking,

clawing madness.

Wanting something wondrously wrong,

when everything else was hopeless.

You were light in darkness,

teaching & calling my body

to yours alone.

Minds aching, sadness soaring,

we passed, just out of reach,

no risk. Leaping in our own shadows, you

afraid of mine.

Greedy, grabbing, refusing & unrelenting.

Painful watching, waiting, willing,

reeling through space.

Aching, clutching at air

to a time you were never there.