Sunsets and sand dunes

I felt the cold concrete beneath my calloused feet

The numbness of my calloused heart
Wincing at the pebbled surface prickling my skin

The air chills with evening

As my eyes lift to the bay, my gaze is lost in the light

A blanket of menacing dark clouds

Peels back to celebrate tangerine threads and fire-red silks

The dank tears clear from my eyes

The sun sets over San Francisco sand dunes

With dry seagrasses dancing next to you

Smoke fills your lungs as you wistfully watch

Ocean waves breaking much like hopeful hearts

But as the sunset met the San Francisco sand dunes

The bay breeze blew the past away

My heart—no, all of me—felt seen and alive

As your ocean-filled eyes stared back into mine

Your arms feeling like the home I longed for

Your lips enveloping mine so gently

Tenderly melting the barbed wire from my heart

As I sunk into the steely, serene pools of you

The days bring with it quiet whisperings of love

As we teeter into this fear-laced place

But, I wrestle to believe that without fear and risk and pain

There is no you... there is no love

So I stand between the sunset and the sand dunes

I stand here waiting next to you

Unlatched, alive, and singed, but here

Open to you... open to love