We ran from the sun
Which baked grass to tinder and dried our skin
To corn husks
To ash
***
We ran to the coast
The promise of cool air more intoxicating
Than the liquor
Flowing through camp
***
We ran to the ocean
waves cresting that delicate green
Unseen
In any manmade thing
I rise in the morning, convinced I’ve died
Mist dances on the water
A gentle lover sighing as wan clouds
Muffle our voices
Where else could I be,
But Heaven?
***
One hundred years ago
They deemed this place worthy
Only of garbage
Cars pushed onto beaches and left to decay
Bottles broken on sand
I want to demand answers
But these people full of reasons
And rhyme
Have long since died
***
I cannot imagine the spoiled beaches
Decades have passed
Generations birthed and grown and returned to dust
Moons and tides and floods
Have transformed waste
Into wonder
Jewels decorate this land
Now
The push and pull of the sea grinding sharp edge
To smooth
Wearing down the missteps of man
***
Trash transformed to treasure
By her hand
Every nook and cranny of these rocks
Reveals a goblin’s hoard
***
I believe I could find home here
If I were not me
If my the itch left my feet
And the sea
Asked me to settle in
Make a life out of her whisperings
Someday, perhaps
But not today
Today is for asphalt and road signs
Yellow-dotted lines
And the next town
And the next sight
And the next life
I’ll never lead
Written by Sarah Hirsch