Sea Glass  

A tiny jewel rolls in with the tide.
Before the briny pulls it back
I add it to the kaleidoscope nestled in my hand,                     
          algae greens                            
                    whites frothy as foam             
                             seaweed browns
and one oh-so-rare cerulean blue.
 
Surf pounds, sunlight dances
water trickles through my toes                      
while I pause to reflect on how long it took
                             rocks and reef                         
                    salt and sand                          
          wind and waves             
to smooth and gently etch these crystal gems.
 
Each fragment harbors the epic tale
of a vessel and what it stowed
before Poseidon’s fork broke it apart,
          a lover’s note                
                    Coco’s parfum    
                             Jim Croce’s time       
or plain ol’ backyard beer.    
 
‘Twas the journey that glorified this glass     
not purpose, nor the one who held it last.
I will wrap these gems in silver and wear them   
                             in my hair
                    ‘round my neck   
          on my toes 
as treasure discovered on faraway shores.

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Ginger Dehlinger writes in multiple genres. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in several e-zines and anthologies, and she won a Pacific Northwest writing competition with her nature essay, “Last Ride.”  Most of her work is set in the West including two novels, Brute Heart (Oregon) and Never Done (Colorado). Ginger lives in Bend, OR with her husband and a cat, both spoiled. 

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