Coastal Fog

From out beneath a coastal fog the thinscape surf appeared.
Beyond the tide we scoped landfall, with glass intent on shore,
Which soon revealed a sandy beach at pallisade's foot.
The cliff face, though imposing, weathered and broken,
Was a staircase to promises beyond,
Of wealth imagined when we sailed home once more.

We reefed our sails and drifted toward a more
Safe anchorage just beyond the waves. This new land appeared
As a vision from beyond
A sailor's dream. We lowered our boats and rowed to shore.
Over we scuttled, not one bone broken
As we sloshed ashore on foot.

We being sailors, not landlubbers, lost our foot
As we stepped ashore, and wabbled a bit, not more.
We ascended the cliff face, our will never broken,
An island, a continent, whatever appears,
While the land beyond remains unknown. A shore
Reveals no beyond.

Our ascent to the peak's backbone and beyond
Was arduous and fraught with perils under foot.
Snakes and barbed brush, afar from the shore
We imagined so verdent, serene, so much more
Beautiful than from the ship as it first appeared.
But now, a new trail has been broken.

Across a foggy soup of bay the mountains seemed not broken
By the distances between us and beyond.
Breaking camp, we watched as morning appeared,
Shedding fogcloud, like bedclothes, to place a naked foot
Into bay waters, cooling, refreshing, a more
Sensual memory of nighttime waters lapping shore.

Turning back, we had to go, returning to our ship by shore.
Another glance behind, just so the dream's not broken,
Is all we took, not more.
And well we remember all the trials that took us to beyond
Where we thought we would go. To set a foot
On landscape no other foot had appeared.

Weighing anchor, setting sail, the empty sea beyond,
Tall tales and long sea swells plant a sailor's foot.
In scrimshaw sketched on ivory tusks, coastal fog appeared.

Above photo: Fingers of Light