The Shore Across

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The shore across the bay is dimly lit at night

Tiny sparkling embers betray the life across

I know they're warm and laughing over the

Steamers freshly drawn from the mud out front

Listening to the tone-deaf piano belt out again

The tune they've heard a million times

The moon rises over their land, not mine

And teases me with a satin rolling glade

I cannot go to the shore; not yet

By day, I see them playing and their voices sting my eyes

With salt spray from the waves which I could sail

If only it would blow toward the shore across

The gulls, the gulls, like frantic origami swans

They laugh and mock as I sit sandy and alone

Like them I'd fly as an Icarus set free

I could walk to the shore across, if but for the sea

I damn my exile, self-imposed and inflicted

Like the lonely posted guard who shoots his foot

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The Shore Across - The Courage of Intimacy by Keith Ainsworth                                                                                                                                                           45