Embered over the eastern seaboard,
the sun takes the entire horizon as its hearth.
The hum of daybreak ignites, flames lick
away the dark, and the amorphous takes shape
in apricot, chalky blue and crimson pink.
Sand, sea and sky stretch for miles, throbbing
like the heartbeats of Rothko color bands.
A white Adirondack chair sits abandoned
in the bent and frozen grasses.

My friend turns to me and says,
Never again will life hold us
in the same way it does today.

From Joy in the Morning (Bellowing Ark Press, 2008).
Used here with the author's permission.