We met years ago on the shore, 

boardwalk planks creaking beneath your feet, 

skin still damp and beaded with the ocean, 

your shoulder grazing mine once when passing, 

looking back to flash a tiny smile.

There were dimples in your cheeks, 

the final orange glows of sunset splashed along your perfect frame, 

tangled black hair almost hiding your face as I walked over, and you were gone

Like a film's missing reel, 

the scene never reaches its perfect conclusion.

It's been that way since I came here 

to forget all about you, 

following me to the same coast we met by in another life's story, 

when you were on the run and still believed in love, 

when I was young and thought I could save you 

from the things you could never bring yourself to tell me about.

When we met I told you we don't always need words to speak, 

that the way we embrace can be 

the bridge between where we came from 

and what we can have close to us now.

There were breezes through the windows, the cool ocean air

filling lungs when I reached for you,

the phantom warmth of arms still around my body when I see you're gone,

your hair perfuming the pillows, 

where I looked into your tearing

eyes hours before

Like a lovely painting I could never understand but still be

crushed by the lonely mysterious beauty of.

It's been that way each time I come here to see if you'll be around, 

following the same coast and sand trails 

that know every scene and note of another life's story, 

when I was in love with you and all we almost had near the ocean, 

where you became the bridge to all

I would have to leave behind to not become

the phantoms that sleep alone here now.