Sunset

We sit together on the pier,

With our legs swinging,

The water lapping, glinting.  

We watch the sun sail

Across the low horizon

And sink beneath the sea.  

But that is not the passing of time for you

Or the passing of time for me.  

For the sun flies a little slower for you,

Child of tomorrow.

It sinks a little faster for me,

Man of yesterday.

How many sunsets have I witnessed?

How many sunsets have you missed?

How many sunsets until you read my name

Upon a list?

He was kind, the print will say.

He was brave,

(Though at times he played the knave). 

When you see the sun set in a blazing hail of color,

Shades you never knew you’d see,

Know that time is surely passing.  

The colors at the end of the sea

We see at day's beginning.

They fade to sunken mystery

And rise at day’s cold end.