Member Poem

At the beach
amidst a milling crowd
I am lost in my thoughts
trying to gather them
grain by grain
on the sea shore
drenched to the skin
in the glow of a setting sun.
 
Struggling against the rising tide
stirred by a howling wind,
I try garnering furtively
these dissipating sunbeams.
 
I get up
as the relentless waves
swash around my feet
insistent upon reining me in
with the pull of a rip current.
 
I turn around
in the gathering darkness
to walk away
with my back to a restive sea;
 
Lead by my shadow,
my footprints following me,
I get lost on my way home.