Shifted Shadows [poem]

Summary: At night, the beach feels like a haunted house in nature; waves crash like whispers, sand moves under your feet, and seaweed wraps around your ankles like ghostly hands. The darkness can seem scary, but it also shows us the worries we carry inside. When we stop running and just listen to the ocean, we see that fear is not so big after all. In the quiet of the night, the beach becomes a place where we can find peace.

The Beach at Night

The waves arrive like whispers
dark tongues against the shore
pulling secrets from the deep
that daylight dares not hold

Sand shifts beneath each step
an unseen hand rearranging paths
reminding me that nothing stays
not even fear

Seaweed curls around my ankle
a ghostly touch
but I do not run
I breathe, I listen

The ocean’s roar is not a monster’s howl
but a mirror of my own unrest
loud, restless, unending
until I surrender

In the haunted house of nature
walls made of waves
ceilings of endless sky
I walk through shadows and find
that every dark corner
is just another way to meet myself

Reflection

Halloween reminds us that the line between seen and unseen is thin. The beach at night carries that same energy. A place where the familiar becomes unfamiliar, where shadows test our comfort. But leaning into that unease can be powerful.

To walk the shore after dark is to practice courage. It’s a reminder that peace isn’t only found in sunshine, it can also be claimed in the places that frighten us. When we let the ocean mirror our own unrest, and still choose to stand, breathe, and surrender, we find that the haunted house of nature is not meant to scare us away, but to invite us deeper into ourselves.