Dungeness

Driftwood told us many stories

of storms and riotous oceans

and bottomless pit of winter nights

when the wind mourned loneliness and

stars themselves shrunk from the tempest.

Stones ground to a smooth polish

from water's relentless perfection

displayed their wondrous colors,

surely the creations of celestial dreamers

in their god-like sleep.

Seals broke through the water's surface,

their shimmering sleek heads danced and

spoke of the playfulness of nature

with marvelous tales of undersea kingdoms

where porpoises ruled and

children found solace from nightmares.

At the end of this finger of rock

the white spire of a lighthouse

maintained its vigil and remembered

icy and thunderous shipwrecks
along the Dungeness.