FAKE IVORY
New and Selected Poems

ON RETURNING TO THE SHORE
     
      Summer unveils the harshness,
      Crushing cruelty of winter;
      Two trees downed and wrecked,
      Someone’s lost boat tossed
      Up to languish on our shore
      But the cottage stands snug
      Like a well-anchored ship;
      Opening the windows brings
      In the smell and sound of sea,
      Breezes blow the dust out
      To mingle with waiting sand
      And slowly fan the pages
      Of last year’s unread book.