My feet sink into the pebbles
as I make my way down the stony beach.
I leave deep foot holes behind me with each step.
This, the last twenty feet
of a fifteen hundred mile journey
to see Her.

She’s always held my heart.

Too many years in the desert sun
left me sick with longing for Her,
my soul, parched.

As I escaped into the mountains
to mourn my mother,
She called to me from the trees.

As I observed the lush, green landscape,
tears welled up in my eyes
and my yearning for Her became consuming.

As the wind blew through the trees
and the fields of grass & wildflowers,
I heard Her voice beckon to me.

A week and over a thousand miles later,
here I am,
sitting at Her feet.

I listen to Her intently
as each wave crashes gently ashore
and slowly ripples away through the pebbles
as the foam fizzles back into Her shallows.

I reach into Her cool waters,
and they breathe life into my sun-dried skin.

I had yearned for Her like a lover,
and like a lover I still yearn for Her now,
even as I am with Her.

As long as I’m bound to this flesh prison,
there is no amount of Her I can have
which will satisfy my longing for the Sea.