Dark oceans at night

I am staring down
the longest horizon
black water under dark skies
hearing a woman’s laugh
lifted up to me on a breeze.
I am not amusing, anymore:
my brooding mind invents
excuses when asked
where it is occupied. But in
truth, I am myself quite often
that far dark horizon, distant
and grim for reasons
difficult to clearly see.
A bird calls, out of place at night
to arrest my self absorption.
How dare I be persuaded thus!
When animals, who live and die
with little notice, still call at midnight
against the unyielding sea with hope
and what amounts to joy. How
little I regard myself, or the universe
of souls around me! I sit in silence,
chastised by myself, until at last,
accepting darkness that persists,
I rise and leap into the morning
we all know follows close behind.

August 2019