Gaia’s Lover
By: Don Hynes
In first light he raced with the ebb
keen to remain with the current
for the miles yet to travel,
yet as she lifted the veil from her beauty
he startled and turned, his gaze
then his boat, paddling toward the vision
of rock green and towering trees
like fresh water to his salt stained skin.
She marked him with a fleeting vision
and though he joined the rushing tide
he vowed beyond reason to return.
The courtship lasted years
though his future was fashioned
that first summer morning
to love and be loved by an island in the sea,
to live within her ever changing temple,
to let her spurned beauty
be the wealth of his life,
her waters his deepest solace,
his prayers for her most passionate;
strangely unnoticed and sorely abused
for her his simple attention matters most,
to be witnessed and seen in all of her phases,
admired and loved as a sentient being
in the tender regard of a true lover.