In The Purple Night

In the purple light, I see
A vision of you
Walking back to me
Back across a million miles
That separate us now
A million miles, at least

When I sit out here at night
The foam blowing by
From the waves upon the beach
The moonlight is glowing
All around you
As you walk back within reach

Back to when the sun was shining brightly
And the beer was flowing nightly
And there wasn’t any way we would have traded
The lives we had with anyone, at all

There are times I think about those days
And all the crazy, fucked-up ways
We tried to articulate, one way or another
That we were the luckiest of all.

*****

In the purple night, I fear
Its not really you
I see smiling now, just outside the bonfire’s glow
Despite all the times I knew we’d meet again
Some night when the surf
Looked so surreal, in the phosphorescent glow

It makes me feel all lost and wild
Unmoored, and drifting
As the rocks keep getting nearer in the moonlight
We lost our way, along the way
And I lost sight of you
Now I’m waiting for you out here in the offshore platforms’ light

Or, am I just dreaming now, like always?
Anytime the light changes, my mind plays
Dreaming of riding those waves again
With you, outside the breakwater wall

Nothing can touch us, way out there
No future fears, no present cares
Watching the waves crash on the rip-rap
We’re so connected to it all.

*****

In the purple light, I see
Your name in granite
Shining back at me
Back across the gulf too wide
From somewhere out there
Where you’re so free.

I don’t know how it slipped away
The dream we had
To live out our lives that way
High and happy with the world
Up near the edge but unafraid
On the beach and on the waves

One night we’ll surf those waves again
Wind at our backs as we’re riding in
Thinking about nothing
Just happy for the chance to be

The tide may shift, unknowing
Going slack as we ride free
It makes us sad, but also happy
To drift out on the purple sea

OJH, Jr. "Rusty" 1960-1992

Sileo in pacis , meus frater