Every day as the sun rose the sand sparkled like broken glass and salt
The ocean saw how the sand sparkled and collapsed on top of it A steady hush and hiss with every attempt No one ever wondered why the ocean sounded like that Like a fatigued Darth Vader
The ocean was sick The ocean felt lonely It is hard to have a body that big to ever feel full
One day people came to swim They did not swim like the animals did The animals swam naturally No one ever notices the way their own blood pumps inside their veins so much that they are happy being alive
The people splashed awkward Stood sometimes letting their toes graze the sea floor This made the sea happy But the people who were not of the sea grew tired and started for the sand
The sea became upset that they were leaving and created a wave so big it pulled the people back inside of it A crash that sounded like lung cancer A heave skipping the heart a beat One that begs for any kind of breath
The ocean felt the people splashing hard Fighting for land It felt good
Eventually They slowed Gave up And drowned
The ocean was lonely again
It calmly wheezed at the shiny sand
This was originally a story I made up to tell children in sign language. I feel I have been full of something lately, but I haven't quite pulled it out of me yet.