I came to the place
you were last known to be

On the anniversary of the date
you were last seen

I bring offerings
of long stemmed
dried flowers
accented with
baby breath and
a clay fired cross
tinkling and jouncing
in a clear concave
glass vase

Gathered from the
floral arrangements
of memorial services
for dearly beloved
kindred and friends

My oblation,
aged, simmered,
distilled with the
resonance of tears
and cured by
ruminative airs, now
fully curated with
the balm of time

On this solitary
Monmouth beach
the March Lion
roars snow squalls
intermittently blowing
away the cold sunshine
from the Saturday sand

Sounding a
somber reminder
of the rise and fall
of life's tempests

We hope for beach days of
Sun kissed faces and
warm limbered bones
reposed in blessed rest
upon blankets and chairs

Yet today the sun can’t
temper the numbed
fingered wind chill,
placidity escapes
into the sonic rush
of skirling gusts
lifting, splashing,
cracking crescendos
of building waves

Inert gulls flock
near a black jetty
their feathers
a taught plumage
trimmed to deflect
natures howling whirl
their silent shrieks
swallowed by
the days bluster

Crossing the beach
I cradled the vase
in the crux of my arms

My shoes taking
on sand, the cross
clanking a toll
against the thin glass
as the dry blooms
whisper winded secrets

As I approached
the ebb of the sea
a furious gust of wind
splintered some of the flowers
into a flurry of  swirling petals
while lifting two long stemmed
yellow roses that land
intact near the ocean's edge

Like frenetic sparrows
the liberated petals
flew into the ocean
settling into a
contented pool
anointing the water
by softly grazing on
supple undulations

Lifting a yellow rose
from the vase...
I touched the thorn
but it had lost its sting

Setting the rose aloft on
the wings of an
insistent onshore wind
it took flight toward the sea

Landing on a placid pool
gently rising and falling
on the relaxed roll of the water

It mounted each gentle curl
moving with an easy buoyancy
over each rippling crest

Navigating the friendly sea
with the skill of a
seasoned mariner
plying forward
eager to meet
the next tender roll

It is thought by some
that my daughter
walked into the sea
on a lonely
March night
at this very spot

Yet the two
long stem roses
that leapt from the vase
still gently lay
at the water line
as if placed on a table
by lovers during
an intimate dinner

Despite a stiff
onshore wind
the waves do not
swallow the flowers
but ease them back
toward the vase
planted on the shore

I gathered stones
and shells to fill the
emptying vase,
as I grabbed a handful
at the wash line
my foot was subsumed
by a wave

I was startled
by the bite of the
frigid water,
shaking my
reverie
arousing an
affirmation of
disbelief that
Meggie surrendered
her soul to the sea

On this cold
windswept shore
a Nor’easter
creeps its way
up our fragile coast
begging an uncertain
malevolence

I stand in your
footsteps

Uncertain
of what I should do

Unable to pray
the words bespoken
In my heart

I am here, frozen,
frail, frigid, flummoxed

My aching fingers
beg me to go
I release a final
white carnation

It springs to the sea
I pick up my vase half
full of shells and stones

I commend the two
long stemmed
yellow roses
marking the
advancing
waterline

I resolve to return
some sun kissed day
with blanket and chair
in the company of
friends, brothers,
sons and daughter

Music: Fleet Foxes, Grown Ocean

Meaghan Elizabeth McCallum
was last seen on video at
Pier Village Long Branch NJ
on March 11, 2015
#FINDMEG

Long Branch
3/11/17
jbm

His skin weaved in the golden sand,
Shone under the sun of his motherland.
Hair a tangled meshwork of thread,
Reminiscent of the nets his father spread.

He had no toys but crystals and shells,
that he collected onshore in lonely spells.
His food, the raw salty fish,
Swiftly with skill that he gut and dished.

He goes and lays down in wet sand,
the spirit of which he loves to no end.
He sings to the mermaids and in mud he rolls,
and the sea laughs with him in breaking shoals.

He is made of blood but ocean too,
he knows no music but woosh woosh woosh.
He wishes to marry a girl of the sea,
who'll dwell with him in his fantasy.

He turns his head and closes his ears,
while people run away from the ocean in fear.
Destruction and death loom ahead,
The blue ocean rises violently filling the town with dread.

Like a heavenly curse it fells on the town,
crushes and sweeps like the tragedy bound.
With his holy hand it avenges it's kin,
and his water that was treated as nothing but bin.

It tears every home away from it's root,
just like how the humans did its fish loot.
And squeezes the life out of the fishermen,
that feast on the dead of his homeland.

It starves and suffocates many men,
who made him breathless with oil spills time and again.
Like a storm it rages and plunders.
In minutes, wrecks havoc on the land and rips it asunder.

It gradually descends back to it's nest,
Satisfied with the curse it did impress.
The next day a body lay on the shore.
Like a coffin did it mud wore.

As people looked on it, they could not help but chant;
*The Child of the Ocean lies strangled in its waters,
We feed things love and they destroy us and slaughter.

Relay the message
There's something I'm detecting
I promise to respect it
But if he's being neglectful
Let me become careful

Caresome
Deceitless

Excuse my grammar
Im speechless

Broad day
Thinking
Dreaming
Wishing
That he's slippin

Falling right off the edge into the ocean

Leaving your heart open

Right? Open ?

When he become irresponsible and lock his keys behind the closed door; tell me that he's the only one who can't access room in your heart!!!

Ocean no!

I hope that you don't dive in behind him and allow yourself to sway from captain to captain

I hate to be captious
But
Mermaids aren't meant to be captured by a man who's heart is fractured

My net is full of caress

So while the both of you is near the cliff; I'm somewhere onshore

Ready to reel you in with so much lure

Tell him
Tell him now
That when he clown
Which results into your frowns

Let him know that I'm in town
Right around the corner
Right up the street
No where far
On the same boulevard

But if you're smart
This is where you'll start
Where you'll Start To finish

Just end it !!

I know I don't have your heart, but I'm still in it

You know how I know?
Because of his senses

His senses, make him ask you; who is it?

Who's the guy?

"How is it that I make you feel low
And somehow  your still  high"

His blemish
My good intentions
His senses
See how tense he is
Makes my wish list
So I'm whispering
"Do it, do it, do it"
And you are listening
But your lips isn't twitching
You kno he'll lose it
Your eyes are glistening
His eyes is blistering
I wish I was present for witnessing

Strange because I'm smiling for your cries

Waiting for you to tell him goodbye
So I can actualize on his lies.

Capitalize on his disguise

Tell him
Tell him that it's me, who he thought that he was when he was not being truthful

His creativity and imagination

Is ambiguous and hellacious

Let him know that he have your heart, but it belong to someone else

Also make it clear that he antagonized on someone else's prize

And while your eyes are teary; you laugh and tell him that someone else has come to title him as your last

At this point He knew this wasn't gonna last,  but he must ask

And ask
Again and again

Who is he?

Then you tell him ...
Tell him that he met me before and I looked him dead in the eyes like a man but didn't shake his hand.
...
Tell him that I basically told him

Solitude,
they say, is the drifting glacier
amidst a rolling sea
against a faint yellowish light
at dusk over a particularly misty sky;
you see a white fish washed onshore —
quivering and pulsing,
then stilled.

Rivers flow endlessly
Eternally joining land and sea
They flow and they fade
Drifting steadily
Roaring incoherently
In the deep channels they made

Glittering lights in the night sky
They shimmer and they twirl
Dancing elatedly in grace
The sun is born, and then they die
No longer now do they whirl
By light, fireflies are replaced

Whispering, whistling
Rustling leaves
Floating in through windows
And over the seas
The cold is then brought
In with the breeze

Grey appears, shimmering
On the horizon
Here comes the sun
Night is now done
Light now has won
Few shadows remain, flickering

Red, yellow, gold
As the coulds foretold
A great light now appears
Over the land, it lears
Purple, orange, blue
Sunrise; almost through
*
And still rivers rush
Ripple and roar
Disregarding all in the sky
And that which happens onshore
They never cared, and never will
If sunshine shines no more

Adoration awes to see full moon luminous
sparkling glory of heaven beckons to gloss
grace dazzles to behold beauty half veiled
joy mills  through by dream for Autumn to flow.

eyes yet befuddles to sight of captive blossoms
love of mellow inspires to seal on swathe cherished
solace of innocence sates  soul to reckon within
for virile  tranquillity to rave through by  Autumn's rapture..

Tide and ebb reels through crest and trough onshore
attribute heartfelt yet quivers under seizure of hope
over rhythm of lips as when caged by the crave
red in vein cascades holding breath as when unravelled.

Lithe of grace resounds in hale of reverberation
Quest yet ponders flicking through curve of shadow
For dream to delve from hideout i slumber deep in night
Yet on next dawn waking from slumber i see Autumn in its robe.

I took a pill to help with my mind,
I felt ill and my brain started to unbind
All I could think about is your cloud bed
laying together, you unraveling my head
Whisper sweet nothings into my ear,
that is the only thing I want to hear
Tell me that life is worth reviving
Tell me I don’t have to be conniving
Can’t you tell my heart beats for you
We can dissolve in the boundless blue
Summer tears wiped into springs
Spring tears bent into rippling rings
Walk along my horizon
Tell me where ambition lies in
Take me where I have never gone before
Your arms will be the only thing that can keep me onshore