Engagement

Summer breaks. Caught in the gentle pull

of an early tide, you and I pause

to compose a poem about rare moments

of tension when the ocean sits

in suspension. Our dreams hover

with the barest of ripples, like

dragonflies. Drifting below

the surface they bend with hurricane

force as an ember sliver of sun shimmers

low and echoes: The sand

extends forever.

Our toes dig signs that wash but will not

fully fade. Farther out there will be ebb

and flow, subtle change – broken

shells, tumbled pebbles, a fragment

of storm-tossed glass as smooth and as red

as a late solstice: rich

with promise.