Was it passion
or a clash of combatants?
always after the barrage
we'd advance reasons, excuses
scavenging the beach-head like gulls
before another treaty was signed
I lost my ring somewhere along that tideline
and pick forever amongst sea-drift
after the storm surge left
Just 44 words in a Storm for Quadrille #34
PoetryPix 
I like the intrigue of that first line.
intriguing from the outset sounds good!
I suspect one would need those metal detectors people use to find that ring.
I suspect it is lost always
I like how you closed out the poem with these lines:
“I lost my ring somewhere along that tideline/and pick forever amongst sea-drift/after the storm surge left:
That’s a beautiful way to express the storminess of relationships. Then somewhere in the gale you lost your ring; quite poignant
just what I intended so thank you for picking up on that
I enjoyed this poem. “Scavenging the beach-head like gulls” was a very vivid image.
thank you for your enjoyment ❤
“I lost my ring somewhere along that tideline” The line speaks volumes of The Storm.
and stormy relations
The war metaphors works so well until you reach that point when it’s all lost.
wars may be neither lost nor won – but much loss either way
I love the way you’ve piqued my interest with the question, Laura, hinting at passion on the beach or a lovers’ tiff – either way it is stormy in the lines:
‘we’d advance reasons, excuses
scavenging the beach-head like gulls
before another treaty was signed’
and then that poignant image of a woman picking amongst sea-drift brought a tear to my eye.
your comment shows you read it all as I intended – thank you for all that!
Yes, the battles and then new treaties, if there is something left of neutral ground. I love the simile of the gulls — just perfect — and the lost ring in the sand. Yowza!
Thanks Sarah – the gulls and the searcher sort of echo one another
I wish instead of a treaty someone would have whispered “sorry”. 😦
Plenty of sorry and sorrows in stormy relations!
The other comments said it all: storm as metaphor for a broken marriage. I read somewhere a broken relationship isn’t a lost relationship, it continues as a broken one.
Certainly something to think on. Maybe the pieces can be re-glued into something different – maybe better –
I read this twice – both powerful reads. In the Wake — the title for me was the key the second time, knowing the ending. One stands in the wake – the rough path of sea that marks where one has been. The stormy relations here … not just once, evidenced by the words that a treaty was signed again. For me the line “I lost my ring somewhere” is more than simply losing a ring at the seashore…it’s perhaps losing the will to sign another treaty – and then standing alone, after the last storm surge, looking at the wake left behind. The ending of a relationship. One hopes the seas will gentle and soft breezes will come to assure this person there is a calm season, a refurbishing of life that will now come – to plant one’s feet firmly in the sand and walk on – your shadow stridently walking beside you.
yes indeed – the title has several implications which you followed up so clearly on – thank you for these great observations Lilian
Love the intrigue of that first line!
❤
I enjoy how you tell the story gently woven into metaphor.
glad you picked up on the gentle in spite of the storm
Oh, the loss of the ring feels like the final curtain falling on this interpersonal drama!
it is indeed the epilogue Lynn
Sigh…