They, Too, Were Birds

Duck, NC, 12/17. Please expand with a click.

always first into the wind

gray-blue gray-green

a solid thing

 spume and rain and pelicans

that sweeps the beaches clean

from Duck to Hatteras

a steady wind that drew men here

convinced they too were birds

and you because the sea is vast

the sea is vast and sky and wind

a man can lean on

wind and surf to fill the footprints

of the ghosts who crossed the dunes

and smooth your ragged margins

purged by wind and walking north

to turn at last toward the south

wind and the past at your back

erosion and renewal

forgiveness and ruin

to help you home.