Title: Low Tide
Author: kbk
Claimer: Mine.

Low tide, and an evening walk along a vast expanse of sand.

I saw a rainbow that stretched out over the sea, strong and bright; a pale reflection inside it, and another without.

The veneer of light that overlays the beach can almost make me believe I am walking on water: but the sand is firm beneath my feet.

Rainbow forever
Out of reach. Fingers of God
That never touch me.

The Fingers of God is a name given to the shafts of light that strike through the clouds on an overcast day. I wondered, in an idle moment, whether the shafts of shadow from clouds on a sunny day could be called the Devil's Fingers.

Idle fantasies that I have:
Of climbing up the tallest tree;
Of kissing a stranger in the street;
Of smashing plate-glass with my bare hand.
The devil finds work for idle hands,
And fantasies for idle minds.

Setting-sunlight gives your dull green jacket a metallic sheen, gilds your pale skin, makes you ethereal: sand splattered up the back of your jeans makes you earthly, and human, and mine.

The sea to my right; you to my left. You are walking on water; below me is only sand.

A transient beauty; a stray beam of sunlight illuminating a cloud; full moon risen before the end of day; lowering storm-clouds with a pink frilly underskirt.

Of footprints in the sand, a set - only one:
I walk my path in life unguarded and alone.