Time In a Bottle

As the seas carry my cargo and I to different shores I wait, Waiting for someone to release me from my burden. Days drift by listless in the ambience of light and dark returning, The skies change from blue to a Smokey gray overhead. Waves crash against me, water engulfs me, but I maintain integrity. A myriad of hulls splash by, pushing me aside. Why, my cargo is precious and weighs lightly? Passengers slowly cling to me, barnacles and algae hide my glow. Woe seeps into my gleam as I lay on my side, If only a rest on a shore or on a deck to ease my ever weakening self. Like a mother my burden is protected until birth, Though with the birth goes my death, like that of my brothers. Fear creeps in that I might break under extreme elements. The stars change and drift as I do in a sea of black, they too must be like me Waiting for the chance to relieve our burdens. The sands come closer and closer, sometimes scraping against my body. One day I will be found, hands will grasp, and carry me home.