This is a poem about an old friend from the past. It took place last year, in September, right after we left camp in California. I know it needs work on rhythm and pattern. This is just the first draft. Editing will follow, I assure you. Give me thoughts on the first draft though?

She’s giving me a wink,

Eyes glimmering with sparkles,

She’s dancing on the shore,

I whisper, “remarkable.”

Her toes are in the sands,

Her hands reach towards the skies,

She’s the color of the sunset,

The way she’s painted in my eyes.

I take out my camera,

To snap a single shot,

Even though I know,

The moment can’t be caught.

She’s waving me over,

Fingers curling in a beckons,

I remain by the roadside,

Minutes seem like seconds.

The blacks of her skirt,

The rainbow lace of her top,

She’s dancing a fairytale,

To a tune that won’t stop.

I skip down the rocks,

Step upon the sand,

But the ground feels empty,

Each grain is at her command.

Even as she tosses me a grin,

Invitation written in her smile,

I know she wants me by her side,

The feet between us feel like miles.

My heartbeat begins to slow,

As her feet dance a silent tune,

I step forward, and pause,

The sun has exited for the moon.

As the moonlight falls on her,

And the sunlight had waned,

She stops and turns to face me,

Ocean’s dance has left its stain.

The moment has ended,

The spell has passed,

I did not join her,

Now the present, is the past.

We return to the roadside,

Her eyes are all aglow,

I stare at her back,

Quiet as the ocean’s ebb and flow.

A year later, I raise the camera,

Flip through the memory of the machine,

See a picture of a girl,

Dancing to an orchestra unseen.

I’ve grown older,

This girl is still young,

Today’s girl wouldn’t dance,

She wouldn’t hear the song sung.

And with the passing of the years,

I keep looking to the past,

I see her feet on the sand,

The elegance of the contrast.

I dream of those sands,

And the girl who gave a wink of her eye,

Oh, how I wished I’d danced,

Beneath the sunset sky.

For now she’s dancing,

Only in my mind,

In a jaded memory,

Embellished and refined.

She’s grinning from the shore,

Eyes radiant in their sparkles,

I reach out as the camera clicks,

I whisper, “remarkable.”