white punctuation

 

where did the minutes go?
we held hands and laughed at nothing
because nothing mattered
as we traveled into the safeguard of night

darkness was a friend
dressing us like a single wool blanket
pulling us together at the shoulders
tugging at our hearts

there
basking in warmth
co-mingling tears defined us

we wanted to blend with the sea
but chasing foaming water and skinny-legged sandpipers
went the way of retreating waves
and we chased the nighttime fog until our weary bodies had fallen

overhead gulls caught swirling breezes
slicing through the darkness like white punctuation
on a sky filled with paragraphs left for interpretation
and as quickly as they appeared they were gone
like minutes of our lives

we traveled light, allowing for an open door
and when gulls squawked as if mocking the burdens that we bore
it seemed that their freedom was a beckon call
and as you looked back over your shoulder, i waved goodbye.

perhaps we had not learned in our youth what we now know
about sand castles and ocean waves
the darkness of drooping nighttime skies
and white punctuation separating words that really matter.