Along the Shore
For only one day
to experience the ocean:
storm clouds have bundled
up into soft blankets,
settled along the horizon
leaving waves stirred
into white crests that roll
across wide expanses.
Wind whips their summits,
sends sea spray high
up to a sky of azure blue.
They crash gently against
the shore where sandpipers
on stick legs scissor
back and forth in front
of edges of foam.
Fine sand, pushed by breezes,
slides across the beach
in intricate patterns of tan.
A boat unfurls large sails, skims
beyond the strand to finally
disappear below horizon.
The air is cool, sun warms skin
on this first morning of autumn.
If I could spend only
one day by the sea
and you were here,
it would be enough.
Lainie Senechal
Published in the journal Ibbetson Street, Ibbetson Street Press, Somerville, MA 2009