The shells reminded her of the ocean—maps
conjuring places that she would never go–
the sky called her to sail, align with the gaps—

Her longing was fierce, vast, bottomless, with no
boundaries—she dreamed of journeys opening
new worlds that danced in amaranthine joy, flow

Echoing the trails of the stars, floating in
time with the waxing and waning of the moon,
returning to herself, circling, homecoming—

That other life was the one she wanted—strewn
in the shadows of voices calling her back
to the secrets stored inside that spiraled room

Frank Hubeny at dVerse gave us a difficult task–at least I found it difficult–writing tercets similar to those that were written by Dante for the Divine Comedy.  My rhythm is definitely off and more than one of my rhymes are slanted, but I did get the 11 syllables in each line.

The art has been recycled from 2015.