Lang Leav - Sea of Strangers

Also by Lang Leav Poetry Love & Misadventure Lullabies Memories The Universe of Us Fiction Sad Girls sea of strangers copyright 2018 by Lang Leav. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of reprints in the context of reviews. Andrews McMeel Publishing a division of Andrews McMeel Universal 1130 Walnut Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64106 www.andrewsmcmeel.com www.langleav.com ISBN: - - 4494 - 9494-0 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017959243 This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

ATTENTION: SCHOOLS AND BUSINESSES Andrews McMeel books are available at quantity discounts with bulk purchase for educational, business, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail the Andrews McMeel Publishing Special Sales Department: specialsales@amuniversal.com . For Michael You, me, and the sea. Introduction It has been almost a decade since I wrote the poem Sea of Strangers . I still remember that moment with great clarity. I was coming to the end of a difficult period in my life, though when the end isnt in plain sight, you dont realize how close you are.

I was drifting to sleep when the poem hit me like a lightning bolt. I sat up and grabbed my pen and notebook. My hand could hardly keep up with the words that were rushing into my mind. When the poem was down on paper, my eyes flooded with tears. I felt a powerful sense of relief, one I cant explain even to this day. I had no way of knowing, when I was sitting alone in that tiny bedroom, that in just a few short months, I would meet the love of my life: a man who lived across the ocean from me, in a little house by the sea.

I didnt know I would cross that ocean to be with him, that waiting for me on the other side was a life Id always longed for but never expected to find. The way the poem Sea of Strangers came to me and what transpired afterward is a testament to the power of words. I know with all my heart those words were like a compass that led me here, and I hope they will lead you somewhere beautiful too. Sea of Strangers In a sea of strangers, youve longed to know me. Your life spent sailing to my shores. The arms that yearn to someday hold me, will ache beneath the heavy oars.

Please take your time and take it slowly; as all you do will run its course. And nothing else can take what only was always meant as solely yours. New Beginnings If I have learned anything this year, its that I wont ever be ready for what life throws at me. I will never be adequately prepared. I wont have the right words when it counts for something. I wont know the right answer when fate itself is staring me down.

Ive learned I can go on waiting for something, sustained by hope and nothing more, or I can put it to one side and shrug my shoulders. Bravely accept the fact that I cant keep my heart safe any more than I can stop love from taking everything from me. I have learned to stop saying yes when I dont mean itto live as authentically as I know how. To allow the tips of my fingers to skirt the darkness, as long as I remember to keep my eyes fixed on the light. And as one door opens and another closes, I will move forward with the knowledge that unlike so many others, I have another year ahead of meanother shot at making it all the way around the sun, and a chance to get it right this time round. Keys to the Kingdom If a boy asks you for your name, dont give it to him.

He will say it back to you in a voice like gravel and honey, and you will crave his hands all rough and sweet. But youre not the kind of girl who builds her house from sticks; you are a fortress, stubborn and strong. Do not give away the keys to the kingdom to anyone less than a king. You Had Me Once You had me once wild and willing; you wanted a lover who took you to the edge. Wasnt it I who gave you that feeling? A love that danced upon a ledge. Then came another who offered you safety and you chose to be with her instead.

Contentment There was a time when I thought I wanted more. When I saw the sky as a soaring highway and the world as one big carousel. But those yearnings have grown so distant, ebbed so far away from me, they feel as though they belong to someone else. All I want now is a rainy day, a roaring fire, you and I talking about how quickly the time has gone. Witness It is the mark of a great poet to write words that feel as though they have stood witness to your most intimate memory of love. Reclaiming the Sky Ask the sun to relinquish the sky to the moon.

Tell the moon to rise with a fierce unyielding vengeance. Remind her it is now her time to glow. Moving On Leave him, let him go. Dont be the crazy ex-girlfriend or the shoulder to cry on. Youre more than just an ego boost, a story he can tell someone hes trying to impress. Just walk away with your head held high and dont give him another second of your time.

I know you love him so much that every step is killing you. But this is the moment youll always look back on as the day you put yourself first. Go and make something beautiful of your life and I promise you, one day youll forget he was ever there. Shelter My father was a house, my mother was a home. We Never Broke Up We never broke up. I am on my second cup of coffee and youre just waking up.

The sun is streaming through the curtains and I go to kiss your back. We never broke up. You find me on the bathroom floor again after a bad day. You pick me up and we talk it through. You tell me nothing is ever as bad as it seems. Not when we have each other.

We never broke up. It is two in the morning and were laughing so much, it hurts. We keep telling each other to go to sleep, but neither one of us does. I was so happy I could have died that night. Sometimes I wish I had. We never broke up.

Only, we did. As I lie awake wishing, willing you here. Dreaming of the day youre in my arms again, asking me why did we ever break up. Into Existence If you wrote a line about me, it could never be false. Even if it is. Dont you see? You are writing me into existence, so please be careful with your words.

Broken They put me in a gown and sat me in a chair and a man in a white coat showed me picture card after card and said tell me the first thing that comes to your mind. First he showed me a china plate and I said, hunger. Then he showed me a dead bird and I said, fallen. Then he showed a picture of you. I closed my eyes and said, broken. Darts on a Board I dont know if it was me or her or the one who came before that.

What did it matter? We were all just darts on a board, wishing we had hit the bulls-eye. The Fisherman I spend a lot of time thinking, maybe a little too much, about things that have been. Like when we first met and I told you someday, I would marry a fisherman and live by the sea. Then as we began to fall in love, that throwaway comment grew in significance. Whereas you, on the other hand, are always thinking, what if? Spinning these wild hypotheticals that are sometimes sad, other times hilarious. Often, I wonder if we are living in one of them.

But then, I dont think its possibleeven for youto conjure something up this perfect. And that is our main point of difference. I will keep mining ground weve covered to see if there is anything worth salvaging, and you will always be looking for new territory to explore. But there will be times when we switch, when you will be behind that metal detector, and I will be standing at the helm. So well always be okay. Im certain of it because this, right here with you, is everything I have ever wanted.