Love Poem: The Forlorn Sea
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Written by: Neal Freeland

The Forlorn Sea

The grasses were the first to arrive
Sprouting slowly all around me
Hardly more than enough to sway in the hushed wind
Steady, steady they rose to shroud him
Days became a flooding of months
Still he lay where he had fallen
Silent, barely moving to breathe
Empty inside
Like his eyes echoing his heart
Beyond despondency he lay

The grasses parted to give way to the rise of trees
Struggling under the rainless skies to climb ever higher
And they did all around him
Reaching higher to touch the cloudless skies
Still he lay hardly moving
Silent as the gentle swept wind
Hallowing through the canopy of many leaves
That filtered light down across him
And no shadow did he cast
For he was empty
Bereft inside
Adrift

The years became decades and in turn they to gave way
To centuries while he lay still where he had fallen 
Rains came and went, fell into snows
And gone again many times as seasons rose to fall away
Giving birth to a pond become lake and finally a sea yawning
Endlessly save for his island of trees and grasses
But he would not move
He would not stir from his place
The spot where he had fallen
Hollowed like his heart
Barely moving to breathe
His eyes never closing
Never blinking

He lay there . . . he lies there still
Unstirred by time, nor day, nor night
Unmoved by life all around him
Alone on his island in the forlorn sea
Where the trees sway quietly
And the tall grasses shush
In the murmuring wind
To fall with a hush into night
For his heart echoes deeply inside one breath of love