Where the Evergreens Will Always Be
As I stand upon the rocky shore,
looking at the driftwood scattered along the beach,
my heart echoes back through time—
to when the salty sea would carry me
to distant islands, far from the heartache
of those I have lost.
You came in like a warm gust
that quickly went away,
leaving behind only a leaf
that drifted down on this late Autumn day.
A year has passed since that day
when, upon the rocky shore, you lay.
How I wished you could lie in my arms,
that I might hold your hand
upon softer sand, we would stroll together
until another came to take your hand,
and I would joyfully give you away.
Then I would stand alone upon the softer sand
and weep, because I loved you first—
and yet I would be happy to see you go.
Yet now, as one year turns into two,
a bottle drifts upon the tide,
carrying a note no other man can read.
For some things must remain hidden
in the depths of a man’s heart—
things he shares only with the sea.
I look back upon the rocky shore
near Mukilteo,
and I think of your grace
and of the love that still remains—
a love no one will ever replace.
I pray that on this day
you are playing upon the beaches
of the shining sea,
while I look across the northern coast
toward the islands
where the evergreens will always be.
There is room by the hearth.
~RLN