Sunset Swim Poem by Joseph Martin III

Shadows grow deep and long

across orange sands where the last

of the day's footprints surrender to the surf.



He squints staring into that fading sun,

that dies each day and says goodbye

in bursts of color upon cloud, sea, and sky.



All of his disappointments,

all of his attachments,

he sets in a pile beside his clothes,

before he takes one more look

over his shoulder with one deep breath.



Beneath slow tentative steps,

sand gives way to water,

colder than he remembers.



Swimming towards that dying sun,

he thinks he hears a small flock of seagulls

watching from the beach wishing him well,

or maybe it is simply the roar of the waves in his ears?