wash away

you've seen the winter nights next to the ocean...crashing on the levies, crashing on the shore...there's a full moon and the stars are out...but it means very little to you...because you are here for a different reason...the lighthouse is blinking, hoping to steer someone in from the fog, and the water is draining off the rocks...the boardwalk is silent...skee ball games are packed in, and even the sharks have gone south looking for fresh meat...the million dollar mansions are boarded up, awaiting the memorial day barbecues...and you shed a tear for every shipwreck that made its way to this shore, for every jumper on the bridge to the mainland...for every prom date that lost and gained it all on the golden sands, lost it to the memory, lost it staring at the breakers...realising for an instant that it don't get no better than this my friend...and i walked out through the december drifts...dog at my side...ole j.k. knew the blessings of an old dog...been through it all with you...been alone, howling at the moon...and that is why the dog doesn't judge you, and that is why it is your best friend...that is why you are its best friend...no judgment, just the frozen night, white light, and quiet...because it's two in the morning and you want to go for a walk...christ, no one understands that...but the dog does...'what the hell' he thinks,' i've got nothing better to do, i'm happy for the company'...and so you walk down the ice covered road, passed the silent pond...the world is coloured only with emptiness...it is only the deep waves, a game of fetch, and another holy night in the shadows...