One Moment

Looking back
toward my perch
on the driftwood stump,
an old giant cut down, cast out,
rooted upside down in the shifting sand,
silver rays slant across the waves,
water brought to surface
after centuries below
to celebrate a union of sea and light
meeting in one curling arc
of furious joy;

for these single molecules
in the glowing spotlight
of pure release
there is just this one moment
of light and beauty
then return to the awesome tow
of tide and destiny,
the foam of escape
drawn down to the depths
of dark and undiminished certainty,
the deep, multi-layered burgundy
lifetimes from now
children may taste
upon the surface
of another sunlit sea.