Longings

I Want a Cottage by the Ocean

I love the city

with its array of delights,

its offerings of culture, its

libraries and theaters,

its parks and plazas,

its lights and music

But I am weary of the city,

with its loud presence and

its oppressive anonymity,

its hemmed in freeways

and the misery of

endless construction

I want a cottage by the ocean,

where the air is clean, where

seagulls fly and the aura is gentle;

where the sun rises and sets

on a clear horizon—

a misty shimmering line low in the sky

that invites dreams,

and prompts secrets, and

asks me to wonder

I want distance from the acrimony in

our cities, from the rage and the fury in traffic,

from the numbing of noise and nonsense

I want to feel things,

kisses and love and

the holding of hands,

long embraces and deep

conversations—

the joy of connection

I want to be close to the earth, to

the forces of life;

I want to hear the songs of nature,

and follow flowers along a fence row;

I want to see children laughing, and watch

the old be fearless;

I want to walk in the sand in the rain

by the water’s edge;

I want quiet nights under an

umbrella of stars

I want to weep openly, unafraid

to unburden my soul;

I want my pretenses unmasked, my

weaknesses understood, my wounds healed;

I want to possess wisdom and goodness, purpose

and fulfillment

I want an end to the suffering of

people I love—people disappearing in disease,

people paralyzed by phobias, people entangled with addictions,

people impaired by haunting abuses—sweet, astonishing people

who should be free

I want the wars to cease, the hate to

go away, the indifference to one another to stop;

I want a world that kneels

before the sacredness of humanity

I love the city,

but I want a cottage by the ocean

Copyright © 2016 Timothy Moody