Naked Under Foreign Skies (Sestina)

I

She sat there, naked under foreign skies
On that high balcony and looking down
To see the beach so far below her feet
As naked and as empty as she felt
Beyond the reach of human contact here
With just the slightest breezes touching her.

II

The world out there now seemed so far from her
And out where endless seas met endless skies
It still seemed far away, now she was here
Beyond her normal life, and looking down
She saw herself still naked, but she felt
So free now with the world beneath her feet.

III

She wants to keep the world under those feet
So tired of all this world had done to her
Always in turns that turn away, she felt
The days escape her under duller skies
Always a turn away, the sun comes down
On every day to leave her standing here.

IV

Today begins her life again, right here
In this new place she feels under her feet.
Her skin is warm as sunlight pours on down
She feels its power now recharging her
Becoming new beneath these foreign skies
A warming fresh feeling she’s never felt

V

It is the barest nakedness she’s felt
As though she’s shrugged off a too tight life here
To live again now, under freedom’s skies
To run on down the beach with bare free feet
And let the sea pour clean all over her
To wash her old life gone as she kneels down

VI

The thought of sea so soon washing her down
Is close to heaven as she’s ever felt
It feels now close and very real to her
She had so many dreams of being here
It seems unreal to find it at her feet
And being here now under dreaming skies

Envoi

No longer feels down, as now she is here
So long since she’s felt waves around her feet
All renewing her under foreign skies.