Who am I to silence the shoreline
When it calls me by my name,
And asks me to stay at the wrongest of times
Teal water, lovely but it won’t matter in two days
Pebbles digging into heels
Don’t hurt enough for them to bleed
I felt something stir like this
Never before and never since

If it finds you in one moment, it’s ordinary,
Bare feet sinking, killing time by the shore, barely
Salt on my tongue, laughing without meaning,
Never quite noticing
How your eyes traced the tide when it called my name,
Low-hung sun, you stood there like you might stay,
Gentle sea, you told me I
Was all you needed in this life

Who’s gonna warn me I’m memorizing
The way the sunlight finds your face?
I catalogue the way you’re laughing
Like it won’t slip through my fingertips someday
The sea behaves, the world feels gentle
I tell myself to stay
I’m drowning in the present tense
Like I won’t ache for it the next day
I feel it unfold like this
Knowing I’ll mourn it when it’s missed

If it blooms within a heartbeat, it’s temporary
You and I mistake the present for the everlasting
Still alive, killing time where the tide keeps asking me
To stay, but I’m wary
Ankles deep now, teal confessing sins
You swear the current’s gentle if I just give in
Holy tide, you told me
I’m exactly where I’m meant to be

What’s gonna stop the currents from corroding
Our remains, if you drown in it anyway?
Our shipwreck lays scattered on the sand
That once was our homeland

Saltwater seeps into my veins,
Pebbles bite at every step I take,
Teal waves hum a song I almost know,
I call to you, but the wind goes mute though,
I gather the pieces of us in trembling hands,
As the waves sweep away what stands