Moon Over La Paz Poem by Nancy Terrell

Full moon approaching
sitting on the foreword deck
Venus rising over the Sea of Cortez
KD Laing - on a Zen not an I-pod
never following the crowd
gazing around
you at your nav station -
weather from WiFi
readying for a month
out over the blue Pacific

final destinations at last -
Hawaii, the islands of peace
years together gone
Disappearing into a webpages
read by followers
adventures and travels -
each a total unit
Cruisers of strong merit
decades in the Caribbean;
South America
And now, our last hurrah,
through the canal

Indigenous Central America -
One last episode
before family responsibilities
KD crooning
Baja sands make
a bright orange moon
sunsets
naked in their fuchsias, golds and violets
driving painters to distraction
the rest of us hoping
rain & less heat

a glance is all it takes
reminding me of our lives
the care that you give
to my life and being
I so desired you - as you
a lifetime making love between the waves
crests and troughs
comprising normal lives
passions subdued
through devotion and duty
The ennui
of perfect cruising

KD wailing into the night;
swooning in memories
so long distant -
nights filled with lust
given now
the modern name of limerence
Unable to breathe,
to think, to argue or consent
Heart palpitations leading
to heavy prescriptions
anti-depressants sworn
never to imbibe
age taking a toll
we had not counted upon

how did this happen?
this oldness
Yesterday to be young and gay -
happy yet argumentative
was this day
ever to appear?
How should we save
yet spend our resources?

Life always has the last laugh
no one is exempt
Brinks trucks do not -
ride in funeral processions
laurels grow not
on graves;
Cremation
burns even memories

Samsara of life -
were you ever real?
Did any of this ever really matter?
and why?
What was it
that made this setting
the ending of promise?