Beach Sunrise Poem by B. V. Dahlen

The sea nibbles at our traces,
Grains shift beneath our tread
Settling slightly
As the curl recedes

The heavens flame with expectation
As the climbing sun
Scorches the pied horizon
Unfolding a path to its core

Tumbled heaps of wraith-like rocks
Spurn the shock
Of the current’s might
With diamond hurling barriers

Sandpipers play tag
Escaping the stretched
Fingers of a waning wave and
Pursuing in return

Translucent ghost crabs
Covertly flit from the refuge
Of their volcano capped havens
Like edgy gleaners after the harvest

Asymmetric sentinels peek
Above the sedge studded dunes
Aged bricks crowned with verdigris
And harlequin tower in black and white

Our shadows stretch before us
As we tack like shore seeking skiffs
On the crooked, splintered trail
Over the dunes and home