white punctuation
white punctuation
where did the minutes go?
we held hands and laughed at nothing
because nothing mattered
as we traveled into the safeguard of night
darkness was a friend
dressing us like a single wool blanket
pulling us together at the shoulders
tugging at our hearts
there…
basking in warmth
co-mingling tears defined us
we wanted to blend with the sea
but chasing foaming water
and skinny-legged sandpipers
went the way of retreating waves
and we chased the nighttime fog
until our weary bodies had fallen
overhead gulls caught swirling breezes
slicing through the darkness
like white punctuation
on a sky filled with paragraphs left for interpretation
and as quickly as they appeared they were gone
like minutes of our lives
we traveled light, allowing for an open door
and when gulls squawked as if mocking the burdens that we bore
it seemed that their freedom was a beckon call
and as you looked back over your shoulder, i waved.
perhaps we had not learned in our youth what we now know
about sandcastles and ocean waves
the darkness of drooping nighttime skies
and white punctuation separating words that really matter.
we were careful that we did not step on sand dollars
and that wave-polished driftwood
could tell a story about where it had been
your hands were warm, even on winter nights
your lips comforting and always inviting
the ebb and flow of the moment lingered
and was both changing and unchanging
sharing borrowed kisses while standing in cold ocean water
were moments
stolen and hidden away,
moments never lost and yet somewhere in time
they lost us
memories are gathered through moments,
stored in special places of the heart,
then later retrieved
memories are born
in times of white punctuation
© tolbert
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