The Shack by the Sea

A place made special from the inside

Waking in the sand, he remembered her vivid beauty

An involuntary smile comes to his lips

The grace of her words, the comfort of her convictions, her clarity of mind

What a woman! A port of calm harbors in a stormy world

Only in the human heart can true sanctuary be found

A shack by the sea their Secret Place, a Holy of Holies

Private little jokes among private little smokes

Sprouting between them: a Rare Understanding

In starry eyes they spoke of the velvety sea, gazing on its glistening waves

In outrage, they fumed of those who dumped their toxic troubles in it

In silence they spoke as knowing waves splashed gently ashore

During the day he whistled as he walked in happy rhythm

Carrying the shack within him like a fresh carnation

To friend and foe he showed off the delicacy of his new flower

"Have you seen one such as this? It's a beauty from the ages."

While others talked news of the world, he thought merrily of times in the shack

The shack by the sea, for friends meant to be

Is this real?

But his soul knew not truly the sacred sea

He loved the sea, revered it as all life and his faith was doubtless

But he refused to venture into its life giving waters

Was it pride? Was it fear? Or a vanity yet known?

She excitedly told her tales of oceanic exploration in wide eyed discovery

He parsed tales from the lives of others heard

Could he truly love the sea having never trusted it depths?

To fly with the angels, he manufactured stilts

And yet he knew the sky they created

"What to do? What to do? When there's no boat for you."

Forming in the shack's foundation, a rot of untruths

He told her he couldn't come anymore

But to see the shack and not go in...too much

Yet every return dripped further dread into the floor

He couldn't go in, he couldn't stay out...

Storms originate in the souls of men

She observed his growing agitation, saying nothing

She hoped he'd understood their covenant by the sea

"Be who you are in the world, be who you want with me."

This gift he could not give to himself

He wore a sailor's uniform having never sailed a day

As she spoke of distant shores, his guilty feet never left dry land

With grinding teeth he wondered her believing him, rarely she blind

He'd perfected the art of telling, absorbing his life to the task

On another road, his talents bring the wealth of the world

On this road, he twisted talent to buy friends

But ever taxing the perversion of purity

And in the end, all things revert to inevitable form:

His talents claimed by the world, his heart by a girl

In his soul a twisting typhoon, blowing the shack to pieces

Nature had spoken, Her voice only silent for a time

The pair never spoke again, the trusting boards all washed to sea

In haunted footsteps, to the empty spot he still walked

Hearing laughter of the past, feeling bright pain of the present

Strangers sneered as he sadly sat on the unmarked grave

Some sympathized, not knowing he'd authored the destruction

But he knew

He knew the Shack By The Sea

We were cool on craze