the sun glowing gold
under still pink glass waters
speaks through the chattering
first-hunt-of-day terns
punching through your mirror-face
the remnants of men
hunt birds in salt grasses
spear flatfishes in shallows
fill baskets with mussels—
your bounty birthed & consumed
again & again,
your lapping waters lay bare
stone points in the sand
untouched for millennia
by men or the flesh of prey
a colony of dinosaurs
in your loblolly sky rises,
their croaking heron-calls
to pterodactyl ancestors
strike fear in low-tide menhaden
an eagle’s nest near the edge
broods new raptor sentries
who announce the presence of man;
a skiff & a sailboat
scissor-slicing the water
so geese can reflect
& form ranks in your chilling sky,
conquering their urge to fly
south like they used to
ever since there were geese
a four-year-old boy carries driftwood
to a great flat on your shoreline,
stands log after log on end
as if he remembers something
carried by the sea
through time to his hands
~~~
