i felt the sand of another beach

i felt the sand of another beach
peppering my hair.
i felt the salt sea wind
crest like promise in the wings.
the sight of moon and stars and light
dripped from midnight limbs
to stretch across the top of sea,
broken by the waves and foam.

i heard a voice of sorrow then,
calling far across the gulf,
moving like a ship upon the silent ribbons.
there was a whisper too
of the water on the sand;
the lonely lick of earth and sea.
i wished to swim far out and down
and would have had i closed my watchful eye
to the living dream.
tide reached out like icy fingers
black and slick upon the rug;
seagulls wept in crystal cries of triumph.

i felt the sand of another beach
peppering my hair.
as the fingers plucked my dreams like splinters,
mother in her heaven sleep stirred.