What Time Must Have Been

what time must have been
when i stepped out from the wash
rotting wood left bleached

sprig grasses peak through the dunes
like waiting children from homes

sun held beneath this
horizon beyond my reach,
the moon-cradled sea

how wonder now turns to them.
was i too as scared of spring?
imprints in moist sand

awaken young certainty,
so they fight forward

alone i crossed the street to
gaze at stars from empty lots

encroaching tides changed
folding onto the dry shore,
pulling at the beach

what tore away at old ships
has all it will take of me

alone i learned to
crow and escape the search for
carrion and death

to wander amongst shadows
from the city walls, i fled

to where the mountains
breathed their last full mist breaths down
upon us, i fled

into the dream, to where hung
the hope that she was waiting