Here to remember
he sits at the sun worn table
among rock and shrub and sky.
The matters and stories back home
dry and crack in the afternoon kiln
of ceaseless alabaster sunlight.

Dinner is cooked over a fiery sunset
the Eagles playing from tinny speakers
he sings poorly but with heart.
Later crunching up dry river bed
his footsteps sound the silent night
the universe a mystery ringing overhead.

He isn’t looking for anything in particular
rather he is feeling for the whole thing:
the world that sustains the little world of man
like sea and sky sustain a ship.
In the vast eternal miracle that surrounds
the man overboard swims.

By: Ethan Maurice
April 30, 2023
Photo: taken at sunset the day before