Graveyard of the Great Lakes

You walked into the waves and never left.
The pebbles scattered underneath the cold
clear water once were stones; the foaming crests
now sinking into sand could once enfold

the iron-sided ships, and overturn
their weighted hulls to drown their steaming gasps
as algae swamped the deck, and dragged the stern
below. The shards of driftwood floating past

perhaps were carved from one of their proud spars
and now are worn almost to nothingness.
And you were once my friend--you now who are
diminished to a ghost I cannot sense

unless I stand here in these grasping waves
and feel, with every shock of cold, your grave.