Sean Lause

Hotel Breakers: Sean Lause

Hotel Breakers

 

The sea, the sea is breaking apart–
Oh mother, where are all the sails?

Shh, darling, shh…
Tides come in, tides return,
our sleep is their song.

I cannot sleep…
the moon, sweet mother,
Grandfather’s dying face…

Sleep, my love, just sleep…
listen to the silence
dreaming.

Mother, a moonlit skeleton
is dancing on the waves!

It cannot hurt us
here, my child,
it dances all alone.

She soothes my cheek
with her gentle hand,
and whispers in my ear:

The sands go shh, shh, shhhh…
The stars weave us, love,
into their net of dreams…

And the sea is both our voices now,
my son, it sets us free.

Sean Lause is a professor of English at Rhodes State College. His poems have appeared in The Minnesota Review, Another Chicago Magazine, The Beloit Poetry Journal and The Alaska Review.