The things I brought home as keepsakes – 

The bleached-white of 

A sand dollar

A shard of coral

A piece of bone

An empty claw 

A discarded shell 

A shed scale

A lost tooth 

A persistent attempt to use death as rememberqnce for a day when

The waves swayed us both

coral and fish and 

sunbleached hair floating in a cloud 

Moving with the slow rise and fall 

Of an ocean’s warm breath 

Together 

In the quiet blue water

We were
vibrantly

Beautifully 

Alive