Elise Skidmore

Sunset Regret

From the dock he watches sailboats

cruising the horizon,

silhouettes in the gloaming,

and remembers

how she embraced the glorious

colors of sunset on the water,

how she wandered alone,

with only a her camera at her side,

and captured the quiet jubilation

of the sun slowly melting into the ocean.

He stands alone, just as she did,

waiting for the hiss and sizzle

that it seems only she could hear;

he hears only the lapping waves

against salted pylons

and seagulls cawing regret at day’s end.

It’s a song he knows too well,

but can’t stop its playing

anymore than he can keep the sun from setting.

~Elise Skidmore ©2017