Gerard Varni

A timid gesture, this jutting pier,
Mere dalliance;
A stiff-legged centipede
Probing safely from the dowdy shore.
Dispassionate, risking nothing,
A toe dipped and quickly withdrawn.
And all the while the indigo sea,
The deep inscrutable sea,
Lies beyond like an impatient lover,
Yearning only for an intimation of discovery.
Weary of concealment,
She tenders the beauty of secret bones
And the bliss of knowing.
All for the quiet sacrifice
Of a simple carress
And a life unbound.