Beach Sunset

A picnic spread, two forms supine,

Beneath a sunset red as wine.

An empty beach, two spirits wed,

We lay in the sand as the world turned red.

Alone, we watched the sky's display.

The noisy crowd had gone its way;

All but gulls our tryst had fled,

We lay in the sand as the world turned red.

I spoke my love to the crimson sea;

The sea told the wind, which then whispered to thee.

And while this message 'tween us sped,

We lay in the sand as the world turned red.

We lay in the sand as the world turned red

And offered thanks with words unsaid

To the whispering wind and murmuring surf;

Two hearts at peace with sky and earth.

Ned Mayo

16 August 1993

Pensacola Beach