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I stepped out along miles of wave-ribbed strand
Striding strongly away from shore into the sea
Waves like a crowd of others long departed
Retreated at my passage
Alone I strode through throngs of departed souls
The waves shrank back hand in hand
With people I had known long ago in another time
None saw me as I passed through their midst
It was like I occupied another space another world!
The warp and weft holding us together had unraveled
Leaving only limp threads where life’s fabric once had been
Standing still with eddies of departed life swirling around me
I dug my bare soled feet deep into the sand
Beneath the water!
Let out a silent shriek a piercing soundless cry
Then it was I saw fluorescent, see-through shapes
With faces atop them more like shining skulls
Emitting blinding light that screamed out
As it sheered back through space and time
Hanging helpless teetering over a precipice
Deep down above the Ocean’s floor
The current swirled up suddenly and swept them
Laughing terrified away
Down into an oblivion of memory
Never again to return to be the same
In youth we once set sail astride these same seas
Full of hope, confidence, adventure
Lands we encountered, captured with experiences!
Unique so fresh so vital serendipitous unexpected!
Cast lengthening shadows in the halls of mind!
As we go ever on ever farther on our Way
Our inner eye yet always half looks down!
Into the abyss of departed islands as they fall
Further still further away
Summoned to mind as knowledge hard earned
Joys sorrows past to guide us
They shift shape and meaning each time
As they carry us away
The Sea of Life ever moves us propels us
On
Never stopping lest the dream the nightmare!
Of life just past destroys us throws us down
The Ocean’s precipice deep and away
Paul Ballard!
July 4, 2014!