I am at fault

We are on this ocean together.
Have been for some time.
I have seen my reflection
wavy sometimes
as a flock of underwater penguins.
and you,
you seemed at times like a lithe and sun-faded beauty
pushed up from the sea.

I can feel the shadow of sails
brush my back
softening the rub of the sun.
We have burnt together in this vastness.
The water has held the sky
through its alterations,
while we have been burnt to degrees.

At high noon we were on the water
faded and cooking in the salt.
A few gulls meandered and laced the sky
I watched them lose themselves in blue open

looking back, the current had spread arms;

between us
the water winks
your boat seems now so small
so light and corklike on the curve of the earth.
It looks as if I am at fault:
a rope lays coiled unused on deck

Unfocusing back into the depths of the sky sea
I pick out the dark points high above
the gulls losing themselves in blue open