The heat haze was already building a wall, In a false dawn searching for a breeze. Odors of beach roses, dead crabs, impaled seaweed, Suggested that death and life were at peace here. Gifts given to the gulls were spread on ceded sand, As the ebb tide offered the leavings Of an exhausted ocean.
Labradors and terriers ran free, Excited at making their brush strokes On the fresh canvas displayed before them. Cowering waves shrank before the assault From frisbees and old tennis balls. Enterprising scavengers soon arrived To take advantage of two worlds in wobbly truce.
The arrival of the August sun Revealed a quickening invasion Of lawn chairs and umbrellas, Reinforced by boogie boards and blankets, And the construction of mighty castles. The day soon became a battleground As Neptune’s forces began a counter-attack.
The sand recorded the fading fortunes As the long shadows cast by assailants Shrank under the glare of the noon, And were eaten by the sea in early eve. The castles’ false claims were swept away, By the ocean’s angry resurgence.
It was a cycle that always entertained But never ended differently. Falsehoods were not allowed traction here. Worlds collided but could not merge. Even the heat lost its edge in darkness, And sated waves rocked us all to sleep.
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