Nighttime at the Beach

Shereen Nourollahi

Seaweed is sprawled along the coast
With rigid pewter clam-houses too
As velvety damp sand meets flowing white powder
The sun’s leftover warmth begins to cool.

The darkness arrives too quickly here
For arriving from the sapphire that is the sea
A haze of fog clenches picnic blankets and surfboards
And groups of noisy visitors begin to leave.

Nobody remains except for the copper-red crabs
For the mist of the violent waves is home
It does not shatter their simple lives
That they are here all alone.

I think the ocean is an illusion
For more than the eye can see
A daring indigo calming space
That is also reality.