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