The Shore Is My Home

Where is one to go

when love has departed?

When breath wavers,

my throat tightens,

and only despair fills my lungs?

My wounds burn with saltwater grief—

it always comes in waves.

Unlike the tide, it doesn’t recede quickly.

I grit my teeth in the sting.

I will remain by the water.

Pacing the dock by day,

sitting atop the lighthouse by night.

The shore is now my home.

Here I may be found,

while I wait for love’s return.

His voyage long,

his journey hard fought.

His soul worn and weary,

yet he remains

the bravest man I’ve known.

Standing in the fiercest winds,

I pray they usher his return.

BIO

Madison Williams is a biomedical researcher and emerging poet living in Virginia. Her work explores longing, devotion, and the liminal spaces between love and loss.