Early August Twilight on the Beach at Truro


Photo by Alice Donaldson
©Alice Donaldson
(Click on image for larger version.)
Since last March,
rangers have been guarding
hollows of sand where Piping Plovers,
close to extinction, laid their eggs.
Now the survivors have hatched
and left the beach.

Already, autumn has made the water
too cold to swim,
so I walk the shoreline,
looking for traces of hollows
the birds have outgrown, but the life
of the beach has covered them over.

Up on the dunes,
you stand quietly
watching me, then wave.
Last fall, last winter,
you were so frail,
and now you are sound.

Suddenly, the soft gray
color of your shirt
looks more beautiful
than the whole,
wild, darkening sky.

Gail Golden SnowApple No.1 12/99


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