I know most while here don’t think about their epitaphs,
But I’d like something on my stone to make your future lovers laugh -
You can tie me in a short black dress to lay my body down below
Have me face down so you can’t see the sunburn; call me beautiful.
I can’t attest to any wave that didn’t make me stutter
But remember swearing at the sea to try to make it pull me under.
Not another soul existed, ‘twas only she and I -
But we merged to one and every sun stopped fast to watch my alibi.
The moon was steady, gaze was hot but her winds were running cold
And they bore down on the mountains till those couldn’t help but fold;
They bowed before her, bent and broke, their last moments so tall
And I only glanced, intruding, trying just to understand it all.
I don’t believe they knew that she was cause of all the pressure
Only thought she let them rise again and fight the falling, fresher;
But my learned eye had far more sight than any man could see -
I imagine this she found a threat when her light was washing over me
So when I drifted further out, intent to meet them ‘fore they died
And floated in them aimlessly, I saw up front their sacrifice.
She spoke to me, “A stagnant sea would mean a certain death,”
Claimed ends would justify the means so long as she was still at rest.
To her I called, “You’re above it all, but the pull’s more than the push,
And I know what waits for me at shore but your nature leaves me in no rush.”
And now you’ll find me, stiff and damp and stinking of decay
But at least I got to end before my living body felt that way.