Tears shine in the daylight

He moves as if through water,
His feet dragging invisibile chains,
His head bowed in solemn, quiet contemplation,
He stops and turns towards the handrail,
His long coat flapping wildly in the breeze like a broken umbrella,
His face acknowledges the sea like an old friend,
The Sea rushing to greet him then falling away as if tired,
His hand wipes a single tear from his cheek,
A quick glance to confirm what he already knows,
He is alone.

His memory drifts back to times of old,
Friends running and dancing in the surf,
As if the only people in the world,
The laughter,
The Sunshine,
The happy, beautiful and warm memories that haunt him,
And his hand reaches again.

This beautiful pain,
This silent anquish,
This heavy weight that he must carry,
The face in his mind,
Smiling and fading,
Waving goodbye,
Then suddenly laughing as moments sail through his mind,
The joy suddenly twisted and crushed in brutal realisation,
As his face turns again to the cold, wet tarmac pavement,
His hands both covering his red and wet eyes.

There are no surpises,
His hands now gripping the rail tight,
No shocks,
No mock disappointment,
The man admits to himself his failings,
His faults,
His lack of conviction,
His soul trapped in the prison of his past,
Screaming to the future in blind panic,
But obligation dulls the sound and the man knows his fate,
His dreams broken in his self-fullfilling prophecy,
His face rises, now unthinking,
No longer concerned with others thoughts,
He claims the rail and joins his old friend,
The surge engulfs him as if on queue,
with a sharp and high swell of foam,
And a powerful rip of the tide,
The old man becomes the sea.