Panama, August 2004
El Bohio de la bahia
rainy season relieved
if only for the hour
Azure ceiling fleeting
teasing the constancy
of limitless horizon
and infinite Sea
The lovely Señora Gringita
emerges like the mermaid
alone with the surf
and the observer
muscles rippling
like one who is in constant motion
beneath the surface
of the Sea
High tide lapping at her toes
tracing her return
just as I would
if I were the Sea
I would be with her
as far as I could reach
and I would swell and pound the sand
like surf in desperation
as she departed my embrace
By the Grace of God
And the Providence of Luck
I am but a man
with pen and coffee
chronicle of a morning
rare and fleeting
spent like the Pearl
precious and magical
I am not the Sea
vast and unbroken
and earthbound and humbled so
I await
The Señora's return
for it is I who keeps
her company
and her towel
at our bohio