a view of contemplation spreads
wider than sight
and a gentle coastal din speaks with
voices we have come to ignore
though thistle crowns lean as if to listen still
eddies of wind pirouette and ruffle
salted and muckish, in from a silver slate sea
that slides surely from beyond horizons
insatiable waters drawn in by siren sands
nibbling at the shore with delicate lips
and the thin sky offers a downpour of scuttering feet
sinuous settling feathered sheet
a choir of chattering tenors
with urgent probing heads
that raid the twice daily pantry
surging pool to rivulet in collective isolation
a tide not pulled by the moon
and I hide
in the dimple of the dune
a distant observer
soused in the still and calm
savoring the delicacy of the untouched
saving my bruising step for better trodden paths
paulhp poetry 