The paper
           Mills chuffed pillowy
      Vapours, and rusted freight trains
   Howled mournfully on that imperfect
          Day when pelicans stole by
              Over cornflour
                Creaky sands.

                   I was wrong
               About the Pepsi
       Can and concrete jetty jutting
   Out because sea-oats grew, Oyster-
       Catchers made arches of song
            Above the sea-foam
                    Enraptured.

                    The­ perfect
              And the imperfect
        Elide; they leap-frog along;
    Firestorms regenerate, hurricanes
   Tow tranquilities, and truths
           There in the moment
                    Living lie.

                  In swamp pools
                 Alligators lie by
             Mosquitoes’ electric
    Whine. In the sodden heat sand gnats
       Settle on scalps, but not one
              Leaf goes amiss; here
                     All is one.

                   Whip-poor-wills
                 Call; cicadas whirr
           Through the wordless night.
   Shadows flicker as fire tongues quiver,
          And despite all faults innate,
             Imagined, real, dreamt,
                     Lies peace still.

                     And the night,
                Beautifully wrecked
          In giant live-oak boughs, hangs
   In shreds of Spanish Moss. Wire-grass burns.
                   Stars in their orbit
                      Stare amazed.