LYING IN THE SHINGLE

exhausted by a dune

waves lapping up

in the late autumn afternoon


I look out east

against salmon-colored clouds

painted by the low leaning western sun


and I feel nothing

but emptiness and relief

the passing of a lifetime


that was long but proved so brief

and the foolish scramble of the world

continues as it always shall


with no definite peace achieved

no good will and no rewards

and all the soul had tried to hoard


will slip away as will the boast

that we had mastered our own sad fates

as if some judgment did not await


one that was rendered by our own acts

one built upon our own intractable facts

we judge ourselves and accept or deny


and as we call it so we live or die...

for my part I've done all I can

and give up the futile effort to lie


by this dune and watch the waves

that will deliver me to my source

and the hazy damp twilight falling


and everything I loved surrounding me in mind

in this late afternoon where for once I feel

happier than I've been in years...happier than I've been...





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