Look! Here’s an astonishing view,
From a promontory’s elevation,
Something for a soul to review,
And, listen to the revelation.
Shore tides below, green and blue,
Scrubbing silver sands and shells,
Leaving footprints to pursue.
Another being, a human, and their spell?
My soul’s advantage seems so high,
An invitation rolling with the surf,
Riding the crest’s curl to the sky,
‘Tho a resident on earth’s turf.
Old kingdoms built upon this cliff shore,
With royalty giving shouts abrupt,
To the low-class peasant’s corps:
“See sky and tides—surfs up!”
Francis Conlon is a retired and recovering teacher. For the past 20 years, he has worked as a seasonal river ranger and boat inspector at Yampa River State Park in northwest Colorado. He has published in the local Valley Voice and in Westward Quarterly. He currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.