Beach Walk

Every step swings like cement blocks, and
Under the crash of the waves something wails,
And the sound that only I can hear prevails
And lingers: it floats in each seaweed strand.

Bare feet step on quivering shells and stones
Next to dull sea glass. The wind whips the sands
In my face as the wail swells and expands,
while the ground wears blue shells strewn like old bones.

Seagulls call out in unwritten language;
The waves swell and crawl back into themselves,
fight each other in retreat and offense.

I look past the horizon, to the edge
Of all life, where unbidden darkness dwells,
Where we see light and all of its pretense.