A Boat Parked In The Sand

I saw once a boat
parked in the sand
the name of its owner carved on its bark.
The boat which once was a tree.
The waters had left a mark
below where the name was carved.
A name, a mark of identity.
I felt the body of that silent boat
when the sun went down and the moon arose.
The sand below my feet
was damp and warm still.
and a boat upturned lying in the sand.
The briny sand stuck to my feet, lingered on the tongue
and bit my skin,
a stinging sand
and the whistling wind,
and I sat in the sand
leaning against the moist bark of the boat that once was a tree.
I listened to the wind and the body of the boat
whose master was far from the shore,
somewhere fast asleep.
And then it started to rain,
a tropical rain on a darkening shore.
I got to go I said.
I 'll come again tomorrow to the same place
hoping to hear the tales of the boat.

Sushama Karnik (c)
26 June 2016