The ocean wind sweeps through the city
a sudden rain washes sidewalk, shop, and street,
carries both dreams and sins back to the sea.

For the young child time slides by easily,
life a campaign that allows no retreat.
The ocean wind sweeps through the city,

rattles church windows, so that all can see
the priest stripped of dogma. Christ on pierced feet
carries both dreams and sins back to the sea,

casts them to the waves, as if, once set free,
both dreamer and sinner avoid hell’s heat.
The ocean wind sweeps through the city,

whispers to the rich man, “What will you be
at the end of this life, when bitter sleep
carries both dreams and sins back to the sea?

When you are buried deeply in the peat,
will we see your face in the turf fire’s heat?”
The ocean wind sweeps through the city,
carries both dreams and sins back to the sea

First Published in Orchards Poetry Journal, Summer 2023
https://orchardspoetry.com/