Watching Waves

by John Smallshaw
(London, England)

With a lopsided gait
I decide and..
I wait.

By the river.

Stood upon the rusted piers
Looking out across the flowing years
My youth drifts in with fears of death.

A soft breath of an Autumn breeze
Whispers slightly.

Like an unbound ship I rose and fell
The well of life is never deep
Only deep enough to keep some dreams.

The seagull.

Screams and wakes me to a change of tide
If only I could ride under its wings.
Would things be different..would I have seen?
The well within another dream.

It is the way..as surely as night follows day
Time will take us..all away.
And what appears and disappears or whatever fears we fear
The end is always near.

And a body.

That skin which feels so cold to touch
How much I loved the heat.
Beaten down and toasted brown
Never thinking I would meet this day
When all is taken...all forsaken..

..as I stand and watch the shift of light
Shifting slightly to my right to get a better view.
The years I knew
The years that were
All there standing in a line...marking time.
Taking mine and me
Away.