Tanka published online in the Mooninkanthology 2020

escaping

to our utopian

life at sea

where waVe by waVe old age

is but a rite of passage

​

opening day

this hush-hush of wee hours

before the crowd

when you and a tranquil

sea are all that matters

​

fragrances

aplenty fill the air

each summer

 memories of that first 

sweet flower linger still

​

I dare let

my heart or soul wander

back in time

it is long since we loVed

and want is unceasing

​

a drear day

inside my mailbox

dark cold steel

rain seeps through its hole

soaking no letter

​

daffodil cup

a Viceroy curls dewdrops

up to it's tongue

thist is an unquenched end

that equals your egress

​

a running

of cormorants across

the riVer

whereVer fate takes us

you lead and I’ll follow

​

a rock doVe

and its mate roosting

in the cliffs

where cool recesses 

house seaside dwellers

​

it’s this way

when we come together

hearts pounding

oVer and oVer and …

like waVes upon the sand

​

while we were

sleeping it came to town

a carniVal

and of likeness are you

the attraction for me

​

​

eddying

in an estuary

loose petals

swirl after pink swirl

in and out with the tides

​

musing on

the zenith of night's

autumn moon

again risen in full

to where it belongs

​

​

​

wildflower field

were you near me loVe

this day in spring

surely I would come

with a nosegay courting

​

​

as ocean mist

corkscrews into a cloud

come this morning

I who was once alone

am now one with another

​

​

​

the wharf planks

waterlogged by time

and thunderstorms

I breathe in deeply 

their wafting ozone

​

poplar tree leaVes

from last eVening’s rain

pressed together

was it fate unforeknown

we could neVer liVe apart

​

​

the way of