the sky hangs over her and the waves come near; and the delicate beauty walks alone pensive, self-absorbed and distant by the shore
what is in your mind pale beauty? do you sigh over wasted time and the pain of distance shores?
what is in your heart fragile beauty? has your wandering love not returned and the days are past and have rolled into months and yet no news has come?
you walk like a child and leave footsteps on the soft sands and the waves eat every trace; and you disappear and we cannot find you again; but we know just as waves return you’ll come back the next morning to walk silently and alone along the shore of your quiet pains
companion painting: 'Beauty by the Shore' (painting) by Kubo Shunman (Japanese, 1757–1820)