The burning light

I crouched alone
soft on the darkening sand
as the light dulled against another empty horizon
and the world drew around me
the shawl of night

The sun drew down again on the cold day
the waves followed one another
endlessly to the empty shore
and nothing broke the line of the earth
but the crest of idle waves

And then, even as I felt to surrender
and lie with the darkness again
she came
a light, flickering so wondrous, so unexpected
on the edge of the stark sky

My heart lifted
As the flicker became a fire
And the burning light drew closer still
Undeniable, unquenchable
Strong against the black sheet of night

And as she drew nearer
I could not help but drift toward
until I stood to my waist in the broiling sea
Yearning, away from this place
Pulled to her beauty and grace

Yet even as I stumble
deeper, and deeper still
Until to my chest the cold waves break
The light hesitates, wavers, dims
and drifts
away
from me

I am not her destination
She steers a new path
and in that raw moment
in that hope of her
so much of me breaks away
and goes with her

And I stagger
battered by the sea, and the dark
unable to make for the shore
and I watch
as her beautiful burning light
closes with the horizon
flickers once
twice

and is gone..