BB Grey–musings

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Lanterns Gone to Sea

This morning came with plans and lines,
A house to build, a roof to frame.
The page held purpose, measured signs,
Not quite the same as love, or flame,
But something steadier, less to blame.

I traced the framing joists by hand,
The ink a kind of slow release,
Each line a thing I understand,
Unlike the words that beg for peace
Then vanish where the echoes cease.

By noon the sky had dimmed to grey,
And still, no word had come from you.
So down the hill, I made my way
To where the stream still winds and drew
A lantern’s breath in red and blue.

I lit and sent them one by one,
Each bobbing like a hopeful thought,
They caught the silver of the sun,
Then drifted off, then came to naught,
Their glow undone by what they sought.

The water did not call them back,
Nor did it guide them to your shore.
They slipped beyond the almanac,
Past reach of heart, or myth, or lore,
And left me less than what I wore.

I closed the door and drew the shade,
Sat with the stillness, let it swell.
You were not there, nor would you fade,
You stayed in that in-between spell,
The part of sleep that dreams won’t tell.

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