Prides Crossing

Lightly you twisted Him to your slightest wish.
You were younger then, had good looks, and a pocket
Filled with expensive trinkets. But He has disappeared.

I think He has gone to a warmer country, where fish
Gambol in the sea, and birds rocket
Skyward. It is exactly as you feared.

For even the gifts had strings, ambiguous surrenders.
The vows were perjured, they had their conditional clauses.
Did you suspect it then, though you asked for more?

Now when the truth is told, when life tenders
Only a bare sky, when the sea pauses
In its rhythm and you see the vacant shore,

It is useless to hope He will come back. Wait
By the water in your pride and say, I am
As worthy as ever. He will not return.

Be comforted. Yours is a common fate.
Others than you have known this shame
Which is fire, flameless, and must ever burn.

But you are cold by the sea. Snow foams on the grey water.
It is the stern God crying out: O my son, O my daughter.