love letter #4

Ocean Bones

I saw you again in a dream, 

refusing to follow the saccharine stream 

of all of the things that I've lost. 

You cling to my fingers, tangled and strangling,

Grazed by the Sun, like a chandelier dangling,

Bound by vermilion string—

Is it nylon or seagrass or something that stings? 

Broken fragments of sea glass or seashells that sing? 

The wind makes you laugh

As I bury my hand in my head 

As I bury my head in the sand.

Of the great many things 

that have slipped through my fingers, 

All I have left are your driftwood splinters