Waiting

Alone upon a cliff above the sea
A woman waited. She endured the wind
And rain, the fading light, the solitude,
Still scanning the horizon for a sign.
She stayed till darkness fell and all the stars
Became her lantern lights to help her search,
For that faint beacon, an eager thrusting prow,
Cresting broken waves upon that heaving mass
Of ocean, that soon might herald those for whom
In constant hope she kept a watch. See there!
Was that the sign for which she prayed? Or just
Some creature, rising from the depths, to seek
Like her, a fellow feeling friend for whom
The heart yearns when the soul in silence dwells?
She sighed, perhaps tonight was not to be
The one when all her dreams and waking thoughts
Would be fulfilled. Perhaps her destiny,
Wrought by those wheeling stars whose light now waned
And weakened, like the light of hope she fanned
Each weary day until its fitful flame
Kept her from heeding to the cold Despair
That tempted her to say, “They dare not come”
For come they would and find her waiting still.