One night I looked up

            On a hunch

            And there it was –

            Not there

            Along the shore

            The ribbon-like band of shells

            Crushed or split, most of them,

            Tangled bark clumped in a line

            Against the dune shelf,

            The soft grasses too, the crests of waves –

            They whitened, and the two of us

            Threw shadows, just as usual

            To save face

            She denied it

            But I knew she knew

            Because I saw her on the balcony

            Searching with a pale brow among the roses,

            The worried brow of someone

            Who can’t believe her eyes

            But won’t breathe a word

            Like mine they scuttled 

            To and fro across the heavens

            Surreptitiously

            Long after there was any question

            Occasionally I thought I spotted 

            Something, a kink

            In the dark fabric of the skies,

            A hidden pulse

            The waters rise and recede

            Still, with the same regularity

            Nowadays it’s hard to say

            What, if anything,

            Had gone amiss,

            Or when