for the heart that only guesses
still will bear
the feet that walk upon it
but not the heart that knows
too often it confesses
and breaks
I would remember
I have walked from river's end to end
a slow companion to the light seagulls
that circle overhead
and I have stood still above the bend
that separates the foot from distant hulls
to fill my eye with flying sails wings spread
I have watched them many times from where
the far shore curves around the sun
and holds it there ensnared
while they advanced then dropped midair
instinct with seaward gravitation
and hungry claws prepared
their wings some shimmering things
the wind has caught and suddenly flings
in a rain of gold
I am not old
and yet when night brings me to town
I forget their wings and drown