"Silent Shadows" by Lily Coleman (Lincoln County Winner)

Amber light from the dock 

is a spotlight on our sweatshirts— 

it creates golden shadows on the rough wood. We

walk down the ramp, 

our hands grasping the railing 

and the remnants of summer. 

The dock creaks 

as we cross its wooden planks. 

We sit down on the edge and dip our 

toes in the black water. 

The horizon is blurred by the night 

and the water is cool and calm. 

The islands are lost among the 

darkness. 

One beacon of light 

created by the moon 

smooths over all the sharp edges of the day before, our voices hush to a whisper 

and carry across the sea as 

we talk. 

Water laps at the 

edges of dinghies 

and pools on the sand. 

I breath in the evening air 

and the smell of salt. 

The town is quiet— 

only a few lights left on by neighbors 

who sit on porches alone. 

We laugh about last night when 

your shoe fell off and started 

floating away. 

We had to grab a paddle from someone’s

boat to rescue it. 

We hear the tap of our shoes on water, the rhythmic pulse of the waves, 

and the silence of the starry sky. 

We stand, tread back 

up the ramp, and leave the bay behind. And

our voices are swallowed 

by the shadows.

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Lily Coleman wrote “Silent Shadows” while an eighth grader at the Center for Teaching and Learning in Edgecomb, Maine. Coleman writes about her experience sitting down at the dock one summer night and talking with a beloved friend. She treasures these peaceful summer nights because they offer her a chance to stay in the moment.