There's days the Redwood Coast
feels like a drowned landscape
an underwater world
the air so thick and wet
you'd think a person would
need gills to breathe it in

Together with my wife
my son and my grandson
I walk along a path
where willow and toyon
crowd in on either side
and sometimes overhead

We come out in the open
just where the river turns
northward toward Clam Beach
the view is breathtaking
a sea of yellow lupine
bejeweling the dunes
the flowers seem to glow
with their own inner light

Clambering down the slope
and out onto the shore
our dogs, till now restrained
come suddenly alive
racing along the waves
that creep up to our feet
they chase after the gulls
with evident delight

My grandson,scooping sand
ununcovers a mole crab
it wriggles in his palm
a tiny tidal life
sand dollars strewn about
most broken but some whole
a cockle shell completes
our little treasure trove

And now it's time to say
our goodbyes to the beach
our spirits are refreshed
our senses are enriched
by all we've seen and heard
the salt air we've been breathing
the thunder of the surf
follows even as we're leaving