you'll always be there
a long distant pulse
pushing in white against the surface of my skin
my heart's red may never break within you
but the surf roils and roars
and the sand shore sighs

circling and rolling
red-rich in hands never held
i feel you, distant,
on that thousand-mile coast

still wishing
still knowing
another's arms wrap'd round
with you on mine
disguised
ink-white
and mistaken for a scar
like all true maps of the heart