By Mary Tina Shamli Pillay
WHAT I SAID IN MY MEETING WITH THE SEA
Oh well, there you are!
Forever sea --
Waving at me, beckoning
Me to come join you in your dance
Infinitely. We are not you.
You are not us. We are friends.
We live lives, we have wives,
Husbands, children, in-laws, families,
You have us. All of us. Plunging
Into the blurred depths of your soul,
Hounding, being hounded, honing
Our thoughts, perfecting our strokes
Clinging onto hope. We cannot
Afford your dance. Our score
Is written, we strut in step,
Finding partners, and keeping beat
Knowing it’s not for perpetuity.
No one beckons. You come,
You go. Master of the shore. Subsiding
At will, rising -- and how! You are
With our burdens, patient and tried.
Those sweeping arms console
And chide. Our hearts swollen
With pride. We cannot come.
We don’t want to go. Our steps recede
We swirl no more. Yet
You repeat, chargeless and
Thrashing about the board.
Mary Tina Shamli Pillay’s poems and stories have appeared on BBC Radio, Kitaab, Blink-Ink, MeanPepperVine, and other places. Her first book of poems, I met a Feather, was published in 2023. Tina is a teacher, language editor and political enthusiast. She can be contacted at: mtspillay@gmail.com
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