After holding hands with the sun all day the sand cooled

and the sea embraced its night time lover

who whispered to her patiently from his bed of constellations

and now begged her to dance

 

Their magic was infectious

and although we did not understand their song of love

we knew that it was infinite and we thought our night

like their affections

would never end

 

We thought that the fireworks that framed our silhouettes

were in celebration of summer’s freedom

we pretended they were for us

but they were only kisses from the sea to the moon

 

We laughed at the crabs scuttling from shadow to shadow

and at my brother’s gullible innocence

we told him he would catch the crustaceans better if he shuffled

so he mimicked their moves and shouted Code C! CodeC!

so we would know when to shuffle too

 

We felt invincible

like mighty goddesses gracing earth with our presence

but as we basked in the limitless summer night

the moon and the sea laughed at us

they knew of immortality and they reveled in it

they knew of eternity and we had not found it

they knew that summer nights give way to reality

and that we would one day fade into sea foam