The Strand Settings: 1. Black Sea

One clear night while the others slept
I climbed the stairs to the roof of the house
And under a sky strewn with stars
I gazed at the sea, at the spread of it
The rolling crests of it raked by the wind
Becoming like bits of lace tossed in the air
I stood in the long whispering night
Waiting for something, a sign, the approach
Of a distant light, and I imagined you coming closer
The dark waves of your hair mingling with the sea

And the dark became desire, and desire the arriving light
The nearness, the momentary warmth of you as I stood
On that lonely height watching the slow swells of the sea
They break on the shore and turn briefly into glass and disappear
Why did I believe you would come out of nowhere?
Why with all that the world offers would you come only because I was here?