Found Footsteps in the Sand ~ A poem by Sheila Aldous

Found Footsteps in the Sand

Found the trails of molluscs
washed away before the tide
could tell their tale

Found the cormorant
still as a statue
his ebony body, talking

Found a tree its leaves
the hair of a dead dog
floating by

Found the seagull hovering
landing his message:
this log is my log

Found the seal
grinning up close
spreading his word

Found the girl running
young limbs breaking
feathered lines of retreating waves

Found her footprints in the sand
unreadable in the surf.

Sheila Aldous

Sheila Aldous lives by the River Teign and often walks down the beach to the smugglers’ tunnel. She has been widely published in several journals and has won the Yeovil Prize for Poetry. She has been short-listed for the Bridport Prize. Her collections Paper Boats and Patterns of All Made Things were published in 2018 and 2019. Sheila can be contacted at paperboatsteignmouth@gmail.com

Photo credit @rawfilm at http://www.unsplash.com