Cliffs at Mattituck

We dangled our legs over the precipice and gazed at the sea.
Only one star glittered in the milky night sky.
The sea bled backwards into the past,
lingered imperceptibly on the horizon,
then rose up, spreading an opaque dome over our heads
We sat, formless, on the cool sand
surrounded by night-noise and sea-shells,
savoring the immediacy of the moment.

Heading home, car lurching over pitted ground,
we passed a farmhouse growing out of the earth.
One yellow window gleamed like a cat’s eye
in the night, reminding me not to forget.

 

 

 

 

 

© 1976 Amy Torres