Call of the Sea - Abdul Malik Mandani

At a boisterous beach

amid a milling crowd

I am lost  

trying to gather my thoughts

on the shore of the sea

grain by grain

in the glow of the setting sun.

Struggling against the rising tide

stirred by a howling wind

I try furtively to somehow garner  

the dissipating sunbeams.

I get up

as the relentless waves 

swash and ripple around my feet

insistent upon reining me in

with the pull of the rip current.

I turn around 

in the gathering darkness

to walk away from this restive sea.

Led by my shadow,

and my footprints following me,

I get lost on my way home.