We sat at sunlit table, sea shushing & hushing

the wine was quite acceptable, waitress pretty

& the feast laid before us picketed a fine picnic.

 

I listened to the space between your words

watched your mouth move describing

the core of your life your centre of being:

 

& the sentences strode on over the sea

melted in the haze of horizon but they didn’t contain

an ounce of me.

 

Hours later I wondered if anything had occurred,

if I had heard the sound of angels, felt the touch of Eros

carried in on the onshore breeze

 

I knocked upon the silence listened to my heartbeat

pondered over biscuits ran the gambit of my cup of tea

 

& I knew then we were strangers a greeting & a meeting

a clash of  mis-  matched  symbols: there was nothing bright to hold us

 

just a moment in the sunlight & the shush hush deepening hum

of the cruel sea.