In sight of quiet ferries sailing,
Our party on the moonlit beach
Is settled, festive ribbons trailing,
Beyond the thinning ocean’s reach.
Around us there are seabirds landing
With blue and white and pewter branding,
Thin-shadowed by the trees and rocks,
Pink miles from where the cargo docks.
The air is still enough for fire;
Opposing angels vainly rage;
Fill up a sacrificial page,
Tonight we light a cleansing pyre.
It’s time to count our worries and
Make smoke of them upon the sand.
Throw on your doomed or failed romances,
Your broken resolutions made,
The mess you forged from second chances,
Turn out your heart inside the shade.
Condemn to flames your long depressions,
The unrequited loves, obsessions,
That weighted you with misery,
Come lay them all down by the sea.
The heat will judge them into ashes,
As friends observe in calming blue,
As moonlight travels over you
And silent water winks and flashes.
Emancipate your heart and mind
From all that can be left behind.
And when your demons glow as embers,
Take ten steps back toward the sea,
A charming ritual time remembers
Will grant you new tranquillity.
Between the pile of evils burning
And waves of sapphire thickly turning,
Prepare a path, and three, two, one…
Jog slow, then gather pace and run…
And leap – leap clear – however daunting,
Transcend the fitful crowd of flames,
The curling papers etched with names
Of all that lingered haunting, taunting;
And land the other side renewed,
No longer by the past pursued.
David
David Carlewood 