The years have gathered like collected sheaves of wheat at harvest.
A dusky golden sunset tinges the memories.
You have loosed the hold on your mind and dropped the guard
of walls the surround you, built up through years of feeling the outsider..
Walls within and walls without,
stone by stone I have felt my way along
for the opening to your door.
Lichens have mossed here, thick and dripping.
Hints of moisture and time,
so long has it been since you let someone in.
Yet through a chink in that guard,
I saw your heart
secretly beating, encased in red velvet.
The love the sea gives the shoreline – repeatedly touching,
tenderly, harshly, sometimes violent – the clamour of waves
crashing through your reserve, your hesitance, your fear.
Love that caresses then pushes
toward the aperture in your heart which wants to give and to love,
but has lost the knowledge of how.
But repeated reassurance from me like the waves stroking the shore
coaxed your heart from the confines of your fortress,
so strong you had almost forgotten how to leave
even though you wanted to.
Because now I stroke you, you have opened the door, and you have let me in
by the fire your heart beats warm, your head in my lap,
enclosed by me.
These years on we have learnt how to give and what we need.
© Jennifer Phillips (All rights reserved)
Tura Beach sunrise © Jennifer Phillips |
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