The beach came home with me
In an itch I cannot scratch,
Skin choosing its moment to
Keep me from much needed sleep.

Where was I at the beginning
Of fourteen years ago?
All those miniature hells
Blend into one in my memory,
But were replaced with
An impostor one fateful night.

Perhaps I got my wish,
After a fashion, as though I spoke
Carelessly in front of a fairy
And received an inevitable lesson.

The wounds of misadventure
Heal but slowly, and an occasional
View of your alien world,
Your snowbound city by the lake,
Reopens them to infection.

Against the loneliness of a world
Like yours, I bet all the things
That make a world like mine,
The unseen details that make it
Real, turn fiction to fact.

But surely I will lose, and you
Will still be there, living
Whatever life you have, and
I will envy your obliviousness
To my west facing beach.

09/20/2020

Posted on 10/29/2020
Copyright © 2024 Richard Vince