​OF SAND AND SKY

by Kurt Zuelsdorf
 
  It’s 9-14-2001. The sky is clearer than one hundred years before. All planes are grounded. No smog dilutes the air, no jet streams distort the cobalt blues. The sky’s un-natural rumbling is silent.
 - Slung low in my beach chair my bum brushes the sand. The beach aches for my attention and my toes are happy - digging, scraping. 
-  Laughing gulls celebrate over every last kernel of a tourists’ popcorn. Skimmers glide in the soothing surf. A lone dolphin plays just offshore -a laugh then a squeek. Natures song celebrates the stillness that may not be heard again in this lifetime. All of life knows things are different now…somehow.
- The fiddler crabs time is now too for they are out marching the sand. My intrusion into their space accepted until the shadows of a heron passes above.  A sprint toward home they drop into their holes, but only for a moment then back out to enjoy the day…not to be denied.
-  A family of raccoons taking a bath in the shallow water along the mangroves. The curious little kits stay close to mother.  The crabs move too quickly for tiny paws. Entertainment found in a pelican feather twisting in a low hanging branch - a brief tussle then a taste.
 - The sun sets too quickly, quietly into the peaceful Gulf… perhaps for the last time… I hope, I pray.  The sunset colors are most brilliant of all. Can you see them? Can you see the “green flash”?
 - The night sky is so clear. Don’t want to leave now…can’t.  A new life is beginning. Just Florida and me. The way it used to be… a hundred years ago. The airlines begin again tomorrow - a new era of sand and sky.