Night Beach (After Walt Whitman)

Beach, bright water, moonstreaked clouds

A triadic configuration of the summer night

Standing on the cliff above the beach

Listening to the insistent roar of the sea

Watching the glints of light on the white surf

We embrace each other

Hold hands tightly

We are alone in the late night glow of the sky

Wispy clouds race past the searching moon

Revealing an itinerant star

Do you love me as much as the night loves us

You bring your face close to mine and smile

I feel your wordless love as you caress my arm

Will this moment last forever

The ceaseless surging of the sea answers but tells us nothing

We can wait for time to stop but it never does

The booming of surf and the cries of the seabirds

Will never overwhelm the bright current of our love

It will imprint the cosmos long after we have ceased to be

Till there is no one left to record the passing of the world.