On early mornings we would pack the car
My three brothers and I anxious for the shore
Red plastic sand buckets, carefully packed lunches
The shore fenced by sweltering pavement
My Mother would unpack as we ran for the waves
The cold water burned the heat from my hooves
And my flesh would retreat from its touch
I remember looking to the shore and seeing my Mother
Laying out lunches and plastic play toys
She would never enter the water
I asked Her many times why
But She never answered
During lunch we asked Her many things about the world
I would ask of foreign shores and things beneath the waves
Her face would glint, but her mouth would not say
It was enough for us to ask the questions
We never needed or sought the answers
After lunch I often went exploring along the rocks
I called it exploring, but in actuality I was returning
Nestled in the rocks was an enclosed pool of water
A single window for the sun, kept secret in the rock
In the pool were fish of many sorts and anemone
But it was in the rocks that I hid my treasure
An empty conch, a fishes spine, a collection of corals
My favorite was always the shell
Probing inner soft passages
Never quite reaching its evasive core
Years of lapping waves had worn a hole in the crown
Bubbles poured from it as it sunk
Many stories my Mother told
Of heroes and crusaders who sought the King
Through deserts, and cities, and oceans they passed
Searching out the Brothers and the glory of the struggle
Tales of deeds unknown to man
Flowered from lips to child ears
And it was these stories that stole my life
It was in these stories that I discovered Purpose
A wisp of smoke from Nothing’s tail
My Mother would tell us stories jokingly
Teasing us if ever we once believed
But She never knew that what She told
Became Holy gospel in my Heart
Many times my secret place
Would replace my thoughts of quests
But when the tide rolled high along the shore
And flooded my secret place
The shell could not captivate
And quench my search inside
I dreamt of adventure and finding Dragons
Leaving the beach behind
I would watch the sun sink in the sea
Hoping to glimpse what lie beyond
Other beaches, other peoples
Other ways of seeing Life
The Seed that was planted so long ago
The beach became a series of questions
Why does the sand look as it does?
Why do the tides come in and retreat?
What is the purpose of the conch shell?
Everything that is and was dissipated
And that innocent child disintegrated
In oyster beds along the seas
Empty shells sleep in sand
The waters caress and hold
And wear the hulls away
In sands along the breaking beach
I collect the shells with care
Purple color waves smooth
On long forgotten jewels
In empty spaces along the rock
Diamonds sleep unfound
A million years of crushing force
Clean night as pure as sea
But in the air along the skies
I saw the Dragon part the clouds
On Blackest wings it soared on high
And took my life away
I remember my Mother’s figure
Grow thin and drift away
The beach began to move
And swallowed the entire sea
An endless expanse of desert
Stretched in every direction
The waves, the rocks, my secret place
A giant plane of sand
It was then I felt the Nothing
Creep from the earth into my head
Cities and smoke replaced horizons
No water, no red plastic buckets
No simple picnic basket lunches
There was Nothing