I stopped.
I don't know why.
Something about the brilliant whiteness
Drew me to it
Picking it up I touch my finger lightly
Over its surface
Coarse to grainy to smooth
Next to it lies a broken shell
Fragments strewn around
Charcoal shards on a yellow canvas
On the other side, a used-to-be shell
Morphed into a pebble
By the crashing of waves upon shore
Waves upon shore
Bum-bum, Bum-bum
The heartbeat of the ocean
But, I picked the middle clam
Or it picked me
I was drawn to it
As a child to its lost toy
I am drawn to its flawless beauty
Its purity
Its whiteness

I don't know why, but when I saw her I just
Stopped
A clean, new, crying bundle of joy
Her turquoise eyes shining
But not seeing
I stuck my hand out to comfort her
Ans she held on to one, just one
Finger
And would not let go
She held on for dear life
She held on because she was drowning
In a world of unknowns
And needed something to steady her
And keep the veil of innocence in tact
A little
Longer

I once tried to be like them
White and pure
Clean and new
And then I just
Stopped
I don't know why