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awareness, beauty, California, Dating, Los Angeles, Love, Nature, Observations, Poetry, Relationships, Religion and Spirituality
Have you ever said goodbye
To someone sailing?
Watched as they waved from above
You on the ground firmly
They slowly drifting away?
At first the loss is profound
Romantic
Impenetrable
But as your friend recedes
It is pretty
It is simple
And it is
Unambiguous.
You walk away
Taking glimpses over your shoulder
The ship a tiny dot on the horizon
Then gone.
Leaving you with a plain truth.
It is when the clothes, a perfume bottle, a book
Wash ashore
With a quiet tide
That you can begin to collect yourself.
Walk inland.
The cuff of your pant
The hem of your skirt
Wet with memory
You
Wipe your feet of sand.
Knowing there will always be the residue of the sea
On your ankles.
Walter Kitty's Diary 
Great piece! It’s true that separations and/or endings can appear either concrete or ambiguous (and of course that they can deceive us in their appearances); you capture the sense of relief in accepting the appearance, whether or not the closure is a hoped-for one. We like to find that rare feeling of definition and clarity in our lives. Good poem for the end of one year and the beginning of another!
Thanks for stopping by my blog and reminding me of the link/follow that had fallen off from yours somehow. I’ve renewed it and will be happy to get back to ‘hearing’ your voice here again!
Kathryn
Wow thank you! I love it when someone can actually clarify my mangled thoughts. Thank you for being so kind and gracious.
Hi Walter, this is really lovely. đ Everytime my son leaves on the sailing ship that he works on, I feel a bit like this too. And to find yourself back at the shoreline, so familiar.
Thank you!
Can I put this poem on my blog Poetry from the sea? I would love to see it there !
http://poetryfromthesea.wordpress.com/
Yes, go ahead! Thank you!
Done! Thank you very much! đ
Going through your posts backwards, can’t help thinking that the next one posted is a direct result of this one? Never said goodbye to some one sailing but have said many heart tearing goodbyes and however the leaving happens it’s the same old, every time. You have captured it beautifully…
Thank you.