No Day at The Beach

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. - Thoreau

longitudes, latitudes and attitudes

whispers, curses and beatitudes

standing at the edge

broken promises or fixed pledge

tide and waves in and out

a yell is an angry shout

sun up and down

smile or frown

clouds there and gone

faith and eternity raising the curtain on dawn

every which way

night and day both gone astray

never knowing quite what to say

cash, gold and plastic

subtle, shiny and drastic

sparkling, new cars and old jalopies in the chained parking lot

some have and others got

frolicking families and people alone

umbrellas and tanning butter

neat blankets and tattered clutter

what's fake

what's real

is it still okay to feel

boats speeding by on an uneven keel

what's the deal

could, should or would

it's all driftwood

things so close and yet so far

lost, awash on a sandbar

seemingly within reach

stretching upwards to pick a peach

a shoreline breeze blows open my good book to preach

you still need power to screech

blackboard and chalk or whiteboard with marker to teach

oceans and sand

dreams i'll never see

things i'll never be

that's okay with me

colors shouldn't be washed in bleach

sometimes life is

no day at the beach

Author's Note

"The sea, vast and wild as it is, bears thus the waste and wrecks of human art to its remotest shore. There is no telling what it may not vomit up." - Thoreau