Between the ocean and the highway,
We are preserved in place by
Salt on the skin of our purlicues,
Flushed with the half-hearted temptation to wholly
Believe in the transcendence found in the coarse lick,
The upturned shot glass, the bitter bite into the wedge of lime.
We can go anywhere from here,
Anywhere, just don’t look too long at the
Horizon or you’ll get sand in your eye.
Caressing this beach are winds of Africa
Carrying all our memory and history over roiling
Life, unknown depths, interminable mystery.
The sun bakes the knowledge of our own
Vulnerability to desire some elsewhere or otherness
Deep in our skin, to desire impossible wishes
To live forever, just in case the holy books and men lied –
To be given a sign, just so we know for sure –
To be reminded this is all worth it, just in case we forget.
We can go anywhere from here, just name it.
Don’t look for the azure line of horizon because you’ll get lost
Standing on the shore in the details of a blind faith
That it’s an end of something, or the beginning.
You’ll look anyway, across the unceasing expanse. We all do
Through grateful tears to finally have a hold of at least something.
You’ll see in the end that anyway you’re stuck with me
Under this impossible sky between anywhere and everywhere,
And right here, right now, we’ll dig our toes in deep.
Image from Flickr.
