The Speckled Waves. Poem by Michael Mason

The breakers fall in the sea one by one.
The ones on the end I cant see anymore:
covered by the speckled waves of the swell.
A shoal of shells fall down into the breaker,
sending a crash of waves over the ridge.
The black night clouds, over the rim of the divide:
a flash of light, like daylight, beams the sky.
A ships shadow making ghosts on the eerie orbit.
An arc of red and gold unfold on the line:
like the sky itself has opened a new wound,
its blood pouring into the black sea below.
At that moment the whole sea raises its head
and crashes its weight at my feet.
Suddenly, I am under it, wasted, choking on
the vast impact of that unforgiving sea.
Drenched in the swell to my waste, I reach
out, as the wind pitches me forward into the
frothy waste, wasteland, waste away, wasting sea.
Face down the water stings my eyes, the salt
entering my nostrils, my mouth agape as the sea
rushes into my throat.
My stomach pumping the bitter grime of the tide
back into the swell.
My chest heaves with effort.
A panic sets in as I give up the strain:
hopeless now in my mind... then another huge
swell lifts me off my feet...carrying me onto
the soft wet sand.