Sunset on Agios Pavlos, Crete

I sit counting ripples on the ocean,
and watch the sun go down upon the bay
as the dog from the hotel
follows me up the mountain path.

For want of a pen, I root in my bag,
and jot down some opening lines
in black eye pencil, so as not to
lose the memory of this moment;

With this action, I reflect on contradictions,
the eye pencil, a symbol of the ego
and its vanity against this backdrop
of purity and innocence.

The sun looks like a large white host
like the one I saw in the monstrance
in St. James's church
in Medjugorje,

beaming out rays of love and beneficence,
giving its all for love
and asking for nothing in return.