The Place of Existence

Hunching over sand and writing
using bare toes the name I call myself,

the rising tide came
the wave softly kissing shore 

and erasing three letters of me,
leaving only two, with the sound

of hush to remind of silence.
And perhaps, too, of loss--

the sand a slate clear and white--
memory taken for ocean's safekeeping.

On a rock by the shore
another name carved

by a child who thought 
of living forever

declaring he was here
this same spot where I now stand.





                                                 shane, 19 june 2013