Night and Day

This morning I was here
The place I am right now
This beautiful night
I swam in the ocean
Just a few hundred yards from here
The ocean I cannot see
But I can still hear

The skies were bright
The beach sand was filled with people
Umbrellas, happy families
Toddlers in awe
I sat on my paddle board
Hundreds of yards off the shore

Surrendering to the greater power
I floated
The ocean surface moved the me
I watched the beach
And all of the people
Then gazing out
To the seemingly endless ocean
The horizon
Its beauty was mesmerizing

But now I sit in darkness
On this boardwalk.
Hardly anyone here
Someone occasionally riding by
Or walking past me
I am looking out into darkness
But I hear waves, constant waves
The ocean

Its sound are constant
The waves landing on the shores
Some are louder than others
Some crash
Some fall so softly
And others whisper
And for brief moments
Seconds between those sounds
I hear the soft breeze of the night

And yet when I leave my thoughts
Beyond these beautiful sounds
They seem to blend into nothing
Silence
Beautiful silence

Can this be the place
The place I was earlier today
This exact same place
The things that have been put here
This boardwalk, the street signs
Jupiter
Smiling down on me from my right
Reassure me that it is

And though dark
Just as beautiful as it was hours ago
But yet so different
Or is it really different at all

Joe Fox
9 PM, July 16, 2017