***
I.
When the light that shows your path,
Is burning low and dim,
Remember the path your feet trod out,
In the village by the wave.
Boards rumble with passing feet.
To one side the sea
To the other a grand bazaar,
Shopping mall and carnival
All rolled into one.
Lights glow on carnival rides
Neon lights the stores' signs.
Movie theaters' marquees crowd
With posters of sci-fi heroes
And their glowing swords.
When your way is shadowed
Retreat within your mind,
And come to join these,
Phantom revelers.
II.
When night's black velvet shadow
Sweeps clear the landscape
Join a revel private
On a satin-sanded beach.
The moon lays down a silver path
Across the deep blue waves.
Foam touches tiny toes
That dance by the tide.
They dance to thundering trumpets
And kettledrums of the mind.
They swing glowing blades
Like sci-fi knights of the silver screen,
Driving back the shadow beasts,
They fear not the dark.
Anyone who can dare to dream
Can join their nightly dance.
Anyone whose mind is young
Can be a child again.
III.
Ride the rides with the joy of a child,
The Ferris wheel lets me see far.
My body swings on a night wind,
One memory of this is forever.
My feet rest above a sunset
More firey than Kiluea's crater.
My mind dances with the sea wind-
Wonder here is wild and free,
Free for the taking of any.
Freedom from cares, yes,
All the world's at play.
Freedom from drudgery--
I laugh with the sea.
Come to me, join me,
In this magic bubble here.
In heaven by the sea,
Inside is a joy beyond all words,
I am home, I am here, I am me.
IV.
A myriad of games awaits me.
Like a carnival midway--only more--
Miniature golf, its false waterfalls,
Beckon from a honeycomb
Of concrete caverns and spires.
Playing amid my friends,
This is camraderie, friendship.
Hearing another's laugh, I share
Their joy in the hole in one.
And if the stormy sea threatens,
As a group we share the wonder,
Of lightning in every possible hue.
And even while we are drenched,
And running for the car, with
Water running down my back,
I am laughing for joy, we all are,
And we are alive!
V.
In the heart of the storm there is calm.
Every night has its coming dawn.
Seek wisdom in what the moment gives
Whether sorrow too deep to bear
Or joy, or quiet repose.
Hold safe harbor in your heart--
The sound of wave on shore
A happy cry of child's delight
The circle of loved ones held tight
Under summer sun and night.
A thousand star-points of light
A touch of wind and a soaring heart.
Cathedrals of quiescent joy abound
Remembered in their raucious peace
For another time when they are needed.
Life is an endless chain, only the moment matters.
Only in safe harbor of the heart
Is the moment all there is.
VI.
The smells are all, they rise,
When the bay is neared, and by
The sand, also on the board.
The smell of broad beach stings
The nose like none other scent.
The smell is hot, distilled by sun
Of salt and oils, seaweed-rot.
The smell of the boards, even-born
When the Sun sinks in muddy bay.
And moon rises to cast blue gleams
On water, on sand and on metal.
The thousand carnival lights spill
Like jewels flaming on a shore, to spread
And here the scent is good to eat,
Of grease, tomato, meat and cheese,
Hot sugar, smoke of grills and sweets,
To smell is memory in this world.
VII.
All is well, safe may you rest.
The roar of the wave is soft tonight.
The sky is pale, purple-blue,
And light is such a wondrous thing
That I should keep the twilight glow
All the year in my cupped palm.
One last whoop from late-strayers
Deep in the chlorine air of the waterpark.
The soft voice-murmur from eateries,
And music from the toy store--John Williams--
In triplets speaks of evil ships.
Lights come on, one by one, by night
The mystery descends to celebrate
And all the world is safe and deep
And people speak as an alien,
Born of latex and oil, were danger.
Peace surrounds, beckons now
Noise will rise again, once sun
Is drowned in muddy water,
And human light grows strong,
But now is fond memory born.
VIII.
Long ago closed a movie theater--
And another bought it--now--there
There they sell jewelry, t-shirts, more
And in the rearmost gallery
Hide treasures dear to me--
In barnlike room, blue as night
White-fretted by paintless plaster
Here, where paint pulls aside--
And in the rear, the treasures dear
Things of plastic starships, and
Childhood's dreams--toys!
The brave man rides the fur-lizard
This one's hand comes off--see?
But dearest of all, the black one,
He watches me--from in his box
His hands raised, to push away--
Escape, he wants! I know.
And I free him, buy him--
His raiment smells yet of sea-salt.