Away from imbroglios and brouhahas

To the torpid shorelines

Of oleaginous waves

Awash from dread and doubt

Brings forth a pulsing sorrow

Overwhelmed by drowning blues

Of sea and sky and burning sand

Of land-bound winds and crashing wake

In tranquility life is muted

Gulls spin on a mobile

Star-shaped shadows flit across the sand

Concave dune and convex contour

Shrill bell-cry through feathered throats

Rhythmic scuttling under the pier

Careful crab claws collect

Treasures no other would keep

But the high tide who’d steal them back

Stagnant indifference arrests the heart

The ocean recedes toward the horizon

Fish lay putrid and silver

In the stale rays of the day

And the rotted oyster tide

Hulls groan and chip their paint

Their decks creak in horror

Restless convicts of the bay

Knock the lynch-pin wharf

Inward cries split the ribs

Unbearable benevolence

I’d destroy it if I could

To bring an equilibrium

Wrapped in gloom-cloaked wings

She calls my name I am soothed

The oleaginous waves

The torpid shorelines

Wash away dread and doubt