redbeard

redbeard

simple with wet sand smeared on cold hands

a skull we found was mythical huge of proportions perhaps unearthly

and i did not assume to know and i do not assume 

to know the nomenclature of the beast entombed beside the beach

and i do not assume to know the future or its friends

the bough of our fortuitous beginning heavy with our end

i am only the sum of lingering loves and futile fears

the accumulation of books and years

only the perpetuation of that which we must all abide

that as we grow we take our small steps toward the tide

gazing silly sidelong into another’s blossoming eyes

redbeard, i find it old as stone, unnamed, deep and wide

now in ghastly glowing parlor i recall a finer light

how it shone oyster-gleaming on your sweet crown

and the churning currents sung it down, down, down

ours, ours, ours again

12-21-10