love in the dunes

there once was a man from nantucket......

love in the dunes


the sand was almost, too hot to lie down on; we barely fit
there in the hollow behind the dunes; gulls screeching,
indignant at our intrusion, dunegrass shushing us, urging us
to lie down, quickly

that was a tough spot for tenderness; it seemed impossible
to get to know each other, there, beneath the open sky;
the snaredrum brush of the receding waves urging us
to settle down, into each other

it felt like i was digging out a hole in the sand, hot and dry
trying to keep the sand from falling back in; i dug and shoveled,
ladling away your discomfort, unearthing you; i dug, and i
dug, and finally could dig no more

and then, just then, of course, all sand and sweat and spent breath,
the sound of the first of the big breakers,
over my shoulder; and before i could turn, the splash
and foam running in, crash and groan, and all the water
running in around the edges, filling the castle, melting
it down, and finally,
finally washing us both back
out to sea.