Leaving

A somewhat melodramatic poem I wrote on the plane flight back from Hawaii. Part of a renewed effort to share what I write without dying of shame.

"Leaving"
I tried to give the island a goodbye kiss
but it melted at my touch.
An eight-month mirage,
dissolved in a minute.
and leaving nothing but a bit of sand in my ears to remind me.

I tried to hug the ocean,
cradle the sunset,
fill my lungs so full with the precious sunshine
that a little pocket might stay there forever-
Sweetening each breath with a bit of illumination.

But they each slipped through somehow.
dripped through my fingers,
poured through my memory,
then washed right over me.
The horizon turned black
and the waves went to sleep.
I want to go back.
but the sea would get one taste
and spit me right out.
"You don't belong here," it would say.
"Look at your pale skin,
your tired eyes,
your unrealized ambitions."
And so i would turn to leave,
nothing but the echo of the tide
and the dull roar of the engine
to lull me to sleep.
Whispering through my sandy ears
and bursting through my aching heart.Aloha Oe, my beautiful Island. I'll be back someday.

Love, jet lag, and sorry no meter or rhyme scheme,
Anna