Ebb

I have seen the waves break.
I have tasted the sea's salt.
I have waded into the edges of our great mother.
I have feared her, I have loved her.
I have been drawn out into her.
And here I will remain.

The cries of petrels fill my ears.
The sound of lapping water
on this plank of shoreborn wood
my companion on this sojourn.
Day follows Night,
Night swallows Day,
and still the mother calls to me.

Perhaps she will spit me out.
To crawl upon the dusty land,
the unhallowed tomb for dirt-stained men
to wander under burning Sun
until at last I turn to dust
and am no more
far from the sound of lapping waves.

Or perhaps she will swallow me.
Draw me down to her embrace
where dark things scuttle on sea-floor
there to be consumed
or drift forever on the wistful currents
eternity to explore with sightless eyes.

I have seen the waves break.
I have seen the heavens shake.
I have tasted storm and swell and salt again.
I have fallen forty fathoms
in our mother of the sea.
I have been unmade in the womb of worlds.
And here I will remain.