Afterward

Signs of the recent storm
Lay strewn like soggy logs
Haphazardly crisscrossed
Against the sturdy trunk
Of a tree whose branch
Still swayed gently in the morning breeze

He stood and walked aimlessly
Along the beach
Loose-laced shoes dangling
From fidgety fingers
His gaze scoping
The dandy dunes where
Sighing wavelets caressed
The cool, amber strand.

With lazy gait
He retraced his footprints
Trudging back from whence he came
To the twin mounded hillocks
Ridged like bolster cushions
And stooping there on squatted
Haunches
He nursed where
Sighing wavelets moaned
Like sirens
Promising peace
And rest for just a little while

To be continued...