Echoing Shores 

Standing at the edge of an eastern sea

A sailing ship’s mast in the distance -

Listening, waiting, watching a possibility,

A loved one on an ocean of faith.

With each crash of a wave               

I hear echoes of your battles

With tempest storms and angry gods,

Clashes with men, your desires, your thirst.

Elastic lapping of ocean waves

Carrying echoes of your fears,

Denials and self-sacrifice

With yourself, lost friends and lost treasure.

I sense your beliefs weathered;

Taste the salt spray of your tears

When you cry at night alone;

Loving for a night erroneously

I hear echoes from your heart -

Depths of you flow out and into me

Wishing it was I who held your quadrant,

Pointing between the horizon and your Polaris.

Can you hear my echoing shores?

A lighthouse guiding you to my sands

Guiding you past outlets into a safe harbor?

Let my compass point you true north.

No matter how dark the night

Turbulent the sea,

Unjust my own reward,

Or how grave your sin,

It is I who will sail with you

Until there is no sea to sail upon?

Dispatch the word;

Run your colors up the pole

My ship will find you;

Not to rescue, but to sail beside you,

Lend support, restore your tattered sails,

Repair your wounded masts.   

~ Michael David Palmer, July 18, 2006