A TIDAL RELATIONSHIP

Ours was a tidal relationship,

It ebbed and flowed

Over hidden shipwrecks,

Sometimes calm,

Sometimes smashing defences,

Opening cuts on beaches

Then healing them

With the soothing sand

That fills each wound.

 

Ours was an unsteady relationship,

Seaweed covered driftwood

Slid beneath our feet

As we slipped and stumbled

Over the flotsam and jetsam

Of unknown fishermen

Sailing somewhere in the bay,

Snagging their nets on our rocks,

Casting empty bottles overboard.

 

Ours was a distant relationship,

Salty eyes forever fixed

On faraway horizons

Or some mythical island;

In the end we longed for a great wave

To appear unexpectedly

And sweep us both away,

To dwell forever with shellfish

And leaping dolphins.

 

Published in Hiding in Shadows by David Subacchi. Cestrian Press.2014.