Gradual
the granules
add up
over time
and beaches form
and the granules
they stick
to the bottom
of your bare sole
and you trek
from pier to pier
and turn the faucet full
and spray away
bags of brown sugar
packed
and through the deluge
a few specks
make it
in
tucked between
a toe or two
and find the floor
and get swept away
out the door
into the day
and another bare sole
happens by
and somehow
there’s a sift
a siren’s call
and the grains that were
are no more
swallowed up
they were
and tossed about
and over time
a bed is made
and the sea sleeps
and dreams
of a new shell
a perfect conch
and the sand dollars drift
and the crabs fight to keep their shields
the coral porous
a watercolor wall
against a mirrored moon
there a Milky Way
to bathe in
the wind a towel
and the ocean
combs the seaweed strands
and shaves the foam
from the face
clean and bright
full of light
and at the edge
another toe
takes a dip
a granule sift
TL