Beyond - a poem

This poem began with my memories of walking on the beach in Oregon, where you walk through sand dunes for a while before arriving at the beach itself and the Pacific ocean stretching off to the horizon. I also lived for a year in a dorm called Beyond at the college I went to in Spokane, and there are resonances of living there in this poem. Note: Although I took this photograph in New Zealand, it has the same feeling of the beaches along the Oregon coast. I just like this image a lot....

Beyond

The fence is imaginary now, as it always was.

Broken, it shows what isn't there,

made beautiful by disappearing.

The trail, as always, leads into sky

even as you walk it with your feet.

It's a struggle, isn't it,

always halting here, stopped

by the fence,

falling in love with dry grass,

stroking stalks filled with quiet light,

knowing the trail leads

beyond.

Offshore, a breeze rises.

Waves surge

and melt into themselves.

The sand is waiting

to wash your feet.