The Shores of Retribution
By John Herlihy

On the shores of retribution lies a sense of caution,
As if all my wrong-doings and evils set up for auction.
We swim in shallow waters not wishing to go there,
Even if just retribution is on the right side of despair.
Out of the clear blue sky, a bird serenely flies overhead.
Gazing down upon the reckoning that we hold in dread.
A tide draws me in closer with forces we cannot avoid.
Why do we feel as though sinking down into the void?
Life offered itself up to us on the whims of pleasure,
The world my oyster and its temptations my treasure.
From the distance, before us, we see what we have done.
On the shores of life’s end, we see retribution has begun.
To end up doing to ourselves what we did to others,
Retribution will have its way as its chill wind smothers.
The forces of good and evil are a tide moving slowly,
They wash upon the soul’s shore with a sense of surety.