There was sincerity in serenity
As laughter filled the air
On the beach that night.
The world sat back
And simply lit our way
With a blazing night light,
Casting moon shadows
On the hilly sand around us.
And where we would
Normally have fumbled
In darkness to move,
We could see every face,
And each attached shadow.
The ease of our flow
Was the gain of our youth,
With our coming-of-age
A pass into the doldrums
Of the dancefloor.*
We always meant to go back
And commemorate our
Old haunt with one more session,
But the lure of cheap drinks
And strange people
In the conformity of clubs
Is too strong for the thirsty.
The beats operate
In the sea’s stead,
The rhythm bringing hope
(a drunken delusion)
Where waves brought peace
(without intrusion).
And there are no moon shadows
Where we go now,
Just lights in strobes
Splintering our lust;
While back on the beach
The moon casts its silhouettes
In fond silence,
Fleeting in form,
Yet with dashes of shadows
Come and gone –
And free.
Always free.
* Oddly a rare retreat sometimes –
Lost from madness
Within more madness,
Only the sought madness
Is unknown,
And better because of it.
