Permanence

Through swirling winds of chill
Winter Sun meets my face
Over the tidewater, golden medallions glisten,
Wavelets sparkle, dance and recede into dark.

St. Michael’s water tower
Like a giant thimble on stilts
Says to those returning:
“I will stand here forever
shouting my name!”

Rocking sailboats dip
the ice-encrusted water’s edge.
Herb points to swans,
White on black, silent
At the receding horizon.

Steeples taller than bare trees
Figure darkly
Against the melting sun’s mauve hand.
As the lightest blue fades into rose, pink and clover,
A shadow arises on the puffy cloud’s violet arm---
This seagull throws her body into the wind
Then scales heavenward,
Then turns, then falls.

Pen against paper,
Like the gull in the sun’s setting pink,
Black against white,
Scaling heavenward
Turning, falling,
Seeking home.


St. Michael’s, Eastern Shore, MD
February 13, 1988