First Light

At 5 a.m., it seems the beach is waking.

Seagulls call to one another
and skim, glistening, over the ocean
like hard-flung pebbles,
throwing water and sunlight
upwards to merge with daybreak

Foam-topped waves dive impatiently
towards the shore,
Eager to be the first to touch,
to smooth out the marks of yesterday
and replace them, once again,
with the scuttling footprints of nature

A cloudless pearl grey stretches,
yawning from horizon to horizon,
filling the air with a warm breath
of hope and possibility…

And with the sun beginning to stir,
still blinking off sleep and the end of a dream,
it’s easy to believe that the world
has never witnessed something
so pure and beautiful in all its years

At 5 a.m., it seems believing is effortless.