As the waves go home
(for Rupert Brooke)
As the waves go home once more,
to dream or to forget;
the beach now still,
coated as with tears,
a new sun takes away.
A seagull dives or dies,
as the waves go home.
Some future beach will find its bones,
as beaches do eternally,
as the waves go home.
And is there time between the tides
to sample all our lives,
that waited as the waves go home.
As the waves go home,
once more in silence,
bending to the needs of time,
the beach remains
so still,
covered with small skeletons,
as the waves go home -
to dream or to forget.