Christi

A young man from a small farming town, during my first year of college, I wandered out one night to enjoy the sea air, and the city gave me a memory.

You were the lady

Who appeared before me in the night,

When lone I walked upon the beach,

The sea breeze in your raven hair …

Why were you there just out of reach?

These lines of words in rhyme

May not express the time

I spent alone with you … Christi.

Like some abandoned child,

I lingered when you smiled,

And I remember too … Christi.

Returning once or twice,

I knew you would not come again.

The pounding rhythm of the sea

Became a storm inside of me.

When I looked back, where were you then?

I can still see a trace

Of the moon-glow on your face,

The shadow in your eyes … Christi.

You left a light in me,

And still, it lets me see

The ocean in the skies … Christi.

The thing I wanted most that night

Was to embrace and hold you there;

But one does not an angel hold,

Not ever, here or anywhere … Christi.

r. nuñez, 1968