Tides

I wish to watch from distant shores
Love's currents wash around me
Not swamping, not eating away
But a steady touch and ever present.
Not to consume or to exclude
Not to set me spinning or alone
But enough to set my heart smiling
A smile to all the world.
I wish for no great goddess
Or some Idol to carry in my pocket
To show to friends and strangers.
Behold, the great winds come
Wail around my head
Never touching nor coming to rest
But laying soft breaths on distant shores.

Yet see those lovers now a-bed
And in happy comfort, quick to break
Apart to warring fractions.
I wish not to be them, no brief-burnt candle
But a light a-glowing in the darkness
To draw the soft wings of moths.
They hold more beauty for hiding it
And more softness than sun-hardened
Butterflies who grow afraid of grasping hands.