If it is nothing to find dreams flooded
With tides going higher under a moon
Fuller than grief
Then what we can make
Of rocks shattered on the shore

Of hummingbirds disappearing into mist over the water
Flying away from flowers
Like souls of the just departed
Seagulls clamoring for their daily bread and
I vow
To keep the five bleached quahog shells
From our day at the beach

The sixth couldn’t save you
Thought I tried to fill it with magic
When I left it in your hand
Before you left us
hollowed out

Barbara Ras is a translator and the author of The Last Skin, One Hidden Stuff, and Bite Every Sorrow. She is recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship and the Walt Whitman Award.