Light shines through windows,
painting on comfortable carpets.
Stairs creek after steps passed
and throats clog after whispers caught.
Waves crash against sand,
playing soft symphonies in lonely ears.
While hearts break as glass smashes to floorboards
and bodies fall into pieces.

I rise and fall
As I float on her tides,
Which ebb and flow
From her inner shores.
I am intimate enough
With her seas
To wrestle with the breakers
When tempests rise,
Or to rest, as I do now,
Upon the peaceful waves
As they crash,
In calming measures,
On the white-sand beaches
Her tourists frequent.

When rainbows lose their color
And the sun forgets to shine
And the world stops revolving,
The spirit's ever lifting and never looks behind.

Pass the spirit slowly
Move ever closer to the shore
But always be aware
Others passed this way before.

They took no notice of the Master
As he humbly sat before
And when He walked they chose to mock Him
As He stood before the door.

So know my child who loves me
That they will deny Him twice more,
Yet history will recall those
Who walked along the shore.

We walk in tandem well past midnight
Summer tempest mad and young
The air charged thick with salt and clouds
And cherry ice still on our tongues;
Sandals dangling off hooked fingers
Remnant sand between our toes, with
Soles pressed lightly to the pavement
Slicked with rain and indigo;
A quiet laughter seals in spaces
Left unfilled by ocean roars, and
Ancient street lamps flicker hazy
As we pass by corner stores;
Joined together hand in hand,
Two bodies wading through the gale
While lightning bounces off the coast
And off your painted fingernails;

Over Seaford on a bridge with
Wind-swept hair and noses red
As leering thoughts about September
Hover over both our heads;
Porch lights crest around the turnpike
We go in through your back door
I plant myself into your sofa
Like the countless times before;
Stories travel back and forth
As storms wage war upon the beach,
Your lips and teeth move like you have
A homily you need to preach;
The talking turns to my departure
As we dry our soaking clothes
Against the glow of TV screens
With hearts and bodies left exposed;

Staring future in the eye
And met with nothing but abyss
I say with all my confidence
That I know this and only this;
It must have been an intervention
Of some Godly, cosmic breed
That gave me August in Delmarva
And a chance for us to meet;
When I’m settled back at home,
Your cadence just a reverie,
The transience of our acquaintance
Will have no effect on me;
Of all the talks we did exchange,
Not one has ever carved so deep
As when you told me everything
Upon the briny Chesapeake.

At long last summer is here,
Time to lounge in the garden
And then have a beer.

My porch is boiling,
Have opened my front door.
No more Winter toiling,
This sun I do adore.

The bees are busy buzzing,
They’ve got a lot to do.
Those flowers they still are budding,
And there’s a lazy-rhyme for you.

Ready for your mid-year hollies?
You bet I am, you say.
Ice cream and lollies,
You’ll soon be on your way.

The beach will sure get busy,
No parking on the prom.
Lemonade so fizzy,
Going down like a bomb.

Great time for walking,
Out in the countryside.
Lots of time for talking
Or going for a ride.

My favourite cove awaits me.
A time to really chill out.
It really will be stress-free,
Time to have a scout.

Yes I really love summer,
That’s all I have to say.
Time to be a newcomer:
I’m on my way.

Paul Butters

There was a time,
A year into the future,
when we used to frolic and dance in the sand.
Usually, I don't like beaches,
I hate large crowds,
Hate 'em hate 'em
and I will 'till pigs fly.
Sometimes I think I'm not like the others
even though I desperately wish to be.
I'd like to donate my shoe collection
to the Salvation Army, or Goodwill,
for them to be put to better use
instead of sitting unused
surrounded by crumpled tissues and overdue books.
Or I could build a time capsule
to be opened the next century.
Hopefully the future Ebenezer Scrooge
finds the Ghost of Frolicking Past
and actually learns to enjoy beaches.

She stands on the sandy beach
Her hands shake; she’s afraid
She steels herself with a breath
And into the ocean she starts to wade

Her brother jumps in, dauntlessly
“The sharks will get you!” he jokes
She ignores him, she knows the truth.
Sharks don’t attack unprovoked

She stares at the endless blue
Who knows what really lies beneath?
She walks with slow, hesitant steps
Into the ocean till she’s in waist deep

A brush against her leg, she jumps,
Shrieks and falls under,
A giant wave hits the beach,
She sits up and looks in wonder

On the ocean floor, a starfish sleeps
Its fins moves, she’s fascinated
A crab goes by with its sideways gait,
By the busy shore, she’s captivated

Tiny coloured gems shine on the beach
As if just waiting to be discovered
Shells of all shapes and sizes,
Waiting to be kept and treasured.

A small wave splashes her gently,
Sand and salt water everywhere,
Nothing to be scared of; she decides
She’s found her perfect spot right there.

No need to go any further
Into the ocean; into the unknown
Her friends make sandcastles nearby,
And she sits there happily, on her own.

New York ~ News
New Jersey ~ Beaches
California ~ Movies
Florida ~ Disney World
Kentucky ~ Chicken
Texas ~ People that can't fit in their cars
Connecticut ~ Lyme Disease

Sweeten, let’s, a coast of dun
Therefrom which, the tides erode,
A castle to blind the mighty sun
Affront to that Poseidon, and others
On the beach.
***** the walls and battlements
Fair crystal arm the turrets
The audience of the hermit *****
Pay silent homage to the throne
Intricate are its libraries, etched
Our history inside the tomes.
Only grains of perfect stock
From which antiquity, in full credit,
Will revere the lot
And poetry of human might
Shaped and forged to kiss the day of light
Only  that may suffice.
In this endeavor, no ancients will tenet
Its salty beams but the children of the morn
For we shall build the universe
From when progenitors are born.

Before it began, we were dismayed
Our future, castle, by waves waylaid
Aspirations sink, now, from shape.
But, Gods, I curse you!
Let my destiny rise free!
Look now before you:
A stone in ocean of mediocrity!
All these that build up forts
Lack in that spirit to fight, retort
**** you, **** you, waters of my doubt
Turn false the shades of realism
Which I thought it all about
**** you, **** you sands of time
For now all that founds my dreams
Is erosion of the shoreline sand.

Black, Brown and White,
Unite at the gay Blue giant
For a jolly little fight
Against the unpredictable might

Here comes the night
A pristine touch of light
Never there is a hindrance
In nature's hopeful delight