The cliff

hazy in the distance,

veiled by an insubstantial fog.

Surreal mysterious and dreamlike.

is it real?

 

A moon invisible,

that cannot grip advancing waters,

The ocean splashes up the beach,

draws back

and breaks

against the wall of stone condemned,

forever doomed

to being torn apart by birds and sea

 

The western wind whips around my hair,

fills my lungs with sea salt air.

The sand between my toes

are seashells ground to bits and mixed

with crystal quartz by endless waves.

 

Broken sand dollars litter the expanse of beach

like shattered dreams

Worn away, to pieces shorn

then again reborn.

 

A large white bone

half buried in the sand

bleached white and weathered

The jawbone of a whale washed ashore?

Once leviathan, now but a ghostly specter

 

A flame burns brightly in the distance

My chilled feet perk up at its existence.

Would you mind

If I share your fire?

The orange glow, radiating warmth

consuming and destroying

what life has so intricately built

Man's red flower mesmerizes me;

a chaotic frightening beauty.

Gift of warmth and light

In the darkness of the night

 

To halt time and revel in this instant

I dream

But time slips away,

like sand, shimmering, seeping through my fingers

tangible, elusive

 

Its Siren's Song that breaks the spell,

Cliff and sea resound with sweet duet.

A future crowned with splendid glory,

and questions to my answers.

 

The golden sand dollar in the twilight

burns bright in its final hour.

The moon an aging child or a young adult?

Artemis has lost her innocence

but still is trapped in childhood.

In between time.

 

A river flows into the ocean;  

A bridge between two worlds,

Rapid waters ebb away the sandy bank, undermining it support

till it collapses to be washed away.

 

The river's current

made a jagged pattern in the sand.

My sole impresses

an aberration on it's uniform consistency,

and I dig my other heel

Into the dull precision of the riverbed.

The stream rushes around my ankles,

Cold, swift, complaining.

My feet endure

I do dare disturb the universe.
 

Past the river,

The abandoned vacant beach

scattered with a wealth of crab shells smoothed out stones

The cliff

looms over me titanic and imperial

A barricade of boulders

sharp menacing rocks that mock me

I stand before it barefoot

a beggar stripped of dignity

shoes a privilege that I lack

 

Frustration.

Because my dream is unattainable.

Stone in hand,

The path of flight is parabolic, arching

A soft thud barely heard

among the breaking of the waves

The cliff

it stands unchanged

Oblivious of my existence

Only now do I comprehend

Humanity's insignificance in the infinite immortal universe

 

The sun has sunk into the sea

Igniting clouds with dying rays

A shy moon materialized in the sky

Reflection shimmering in the water

I trace my footprints in the sand and wonder; how long will

they endure the tides of time?

How long before

Humanity collapses

Into oblivion and all its traces wash away?

 

How long before

the stars and galaxies are ground to particles in a universal heat death?

The future

nebulous and dim,

Is obscured by an evanescent myst.