Glimpses
Barefoot she walks the strand conscious her man
is somewhere in the swelling darkness where Proteus rises
Her feet sink in sand as waves wash around them lifting
granules & bits of shell & setting them down constantly shifting
the distinction between sea & land like the line in her mind
between what is & what seems to be
Along this tranquil bay where her mother & her mother’s
mother both spent their powers mending nets she shrugs
at the difference for her heart is drawn beyond the glimmer
of distant lights & so much of what she sees is hers she hears
the howl of wind across the water like a blowing
through Triton’s twisted conch shell
For her daughter such fancies are as worn as the heels
she wears while shopping & a horn only blares
when she’s slow to step from the street Her hours
consist of getting & spending so out of tune
with her mother’s world bleared & smeared like lipstick
on a little girl Her feet so fashionably shod are unable to feel
But when tide is full & the moon lies fair on the water
together mother & daughter will stroll kicking shoes aside
where there’s joy & love & sufficient light to know
reality dwells in the sand & the shallows & the deep down things
where unseen bending over the darkling plain
the Holy Spirit whispers with such bright wings
