A Sunset Poem

This week I'll share a poem I wrote last year after visiting my alma mater, Saint Mary's College of Maryland. My years spent at this small state school in Southern Maryland were some of the most precious I've lived. On the banks of the Saint Mary's River I studied, sketched, painted, played guitar, and embarked on sailboats and kayaks. I danced wildly in thunderstorms and under full moons. I laughed with friends, had difficult conversations, cried over loss, wrestled with faith, and was challenged to dig deeper, grow in maturity, and live life to the fullest. Even though the landscapes that surround me have changed, this is one horizon that stays with me and makes up a core part of who I am.

Reflections in the Afterglow of a Sunset on the Saint Mary’s River

Those waves

Brackish

Sometimes pounding, clapping angry foam

Sometimes gently licking the shore in sparkly slivers

Always lavishly lapping those rocks, those rough sands, washing up oyster shells and memories

The katydids and crickets call out constantly, cloaked in the heavy mantle of the dark

The stars stand silently, keeping watch as timeless witnesses

While life sings and glows all around in the water, and in the shadowy trees and in the tall, tickling grass

And rhythmic waves rock back and forth, like the breaths of a loved one, steadfast, precious, and too often taken for granted

In the dark, their mysterious chatter repeats endless refrains, echoing long-forgotten accounts 

of storytellers whose footprints once sank in these shores and whose voices have long-since

faded from living memory

This River, ever-flowing with enchantment, euphoric beauty, unuttered yearning, unsearchable mystery, and also the frigid sting of pain and loss,

Has carved a deep path in my heart, eroded away my awkward, rough edges

And even now, so many miles away, flows deeply in me

Whispering songs of renewal and restoration

And in the last glimmers of the departed day’s sun, I catch a glorious glow that silently, but boldly, declares the worthiness and rightness of tomorrow,

And grants courage and hope to sail gracefully onward in strength and dignity