Long Coastline

Summer is over because it is over.
Children gone. Clean-swept beach.

Why are gulls gathering along
the cold estuary at dusk?

They day is over because it is over.
The answer to many questions is hunger.

The beautiful shell is empty
while the ocean swells, is swelling, and falls.

The whole ocean, three islands, a coastline,
birds, a few humans, a dog…