Off Season

one more drag on the tab

as it flickers and fades

into the cool sea mist

never to taste his breathe again

as the sea stumbles

onto the wet tongue of tarmac

free at last to pleasure itself

with the shop windows

swinging pub signs

alternating neon lights

those are all that remain

of the holiday makers

caravan movers

and summer shakers

have left for another year

leaving behind dreams of

love lost, love found, love unrequited

in the echoes of the shells that

creep slowly over grains of sand

that cling to each other as the

seaweed crawls over them

hoping to reach the neon lights

that glint off the beach

that can breathe again now

it is free of the pounding of feet

the slams of bodies

the digging of castles

and he watches through eyes

washed by the mist of the sea

as the signs sing in the breeze

to a promenade where nobody walks

except for the sea

and the darkness filters in

sharpen the edges of a

town that slumbers

and he lights another cigarette and

tastes the sea salt on his lips

as the gulls sing one last song