Shoreline
by David Whyte
Holding hands, we walk
to the very edge of the light,
shyly aware of the way
time radiates from
where we stand.
Our footprints behind us,
are a promise in the sand,
inscribing a joining,
a walking together,
our witness to the ocean,
and as they wait
to disappear
under the flowing tide,
the far, unknown,
and unspeakable
origin from which we came.
Then, all around us,
the felt sense of a courage
needed, a newness in the air,
a touch of the familiar
and ancient in all the tidal vows
the wind can speak,
the strands of your hair
across my face, and then,
suddenly, the sun in your eyes
and the way they closed in surprise
at the first kiss of your salt mouth.
You can find this poem in the collection The Sea in You.
Life of Kim 