Two thousand tides

Walking the beach      
I picked up stones        
Rounded by waves and bleached by sun,     
they had names so familiar –        
Bitterness, Longing, Regret    
And I wondered,        
How many tides had it taken        
to smooth their uncomfortable edges?        
     
Over two thousand tides have passed      
since he loved me    
   
Twice daily salt runs down the face        
of the beach,  
washing and slowly defeating those stones
Yielding new sands, and new beaches        
until all that’s left        
are grains of starlight        
and a steady familiar rhythm        
   
and that is        
enough.