our sliver of sea

Quiet settled into our sliver of sea,

miles deep that night,

so deep that upon waking it had penetrated our skin,

our bones, our eyes.

As darkness barely lifted, we tiptoed in wooly damp socks across

the rocky road.

Testing our balance in that miles deep stillness,

We could have been falling, but no.

Between you and I silence spoke the same language,

and our hearts did bow down in naked regard.

We listened with rapt attention,

for some clue

like children with conch shells pressed against their cheeks.

When moments broke open inside my heart,

and then throat, I could have been underwater or

In the delicious curve of that wave,

The one that is breaking to the north-

do you see it-

just as tangerine light enters the sky.

N.L. Reynolds