The ocean
how I've missed it
this past year

Remembering
our dogs
racing the length

Of a warm
sunny beach
barking at gulls

Today at last
we drove out
to the coast

Under blue skies
threading the soft
green hills

To Crescent City
where we hit
the shore

Cold overcast
a choppy sea
grey, uninviting

Hardly the welcome
we'd been
hoping for

But we'll come back
another day
perhaps in June

The dogs predict
a gentler wind
and warmer sand