The shoreline kept what the ocean refused
A piece of you washed up beside my shoe
The grain was smoothed by every current moved
Across the depths where I could not pursue
I picked it up and felt the weight of years
Compressed into a fragile length of pale
It carried rings of growth and salt and tears
A record of a long and winding tale
The campfire bent its light across the sand
And turned the surface into beaten gold
I held this offering from an unknown hand
And felt the warmth of something brave and old
The tide came back to reach for what it sent
I watched it pull the debris from the shore
But something in the motion was content
To leave behind what it could not restore
I built a small arrangement by the dune
Three fragments and a shell that caught the breeze
They formed a chord beneath the fading moon
A harmony that put my mind at ease
The morning came and gathered up the rest
The pieces scattered back into the blue
But one small fragment settled in my vest
A pocket-sized remembrance left by you
