Look up toward the Milky Way and
imagine yourself forgotten -
all your files deleted -
all your sins and triumphs expunged.

What could be better
or worse
or more completely neutral?

So here I am on the beach
carving a castle in the sand.
Are you with me?

The tide snickers and waits
knowing our castle
lacks the slightest chance
or does it?

I think I’ll toss a beached sea star
back into the froth.
It matters little - save to
that one inimitable echinoderm
that may or may not perish tonight.

*October, 2014