Aglow among the flotsam on the beach

are jellyfish in tatters, crushed by land.

Their tentacles, now death-extended, reach

and—soft, exotic—sting the curious hand.

From springtime bask, a stirring alligator,

with still, appraising eyes and waking purpose,

submerges quickly into calm black waters,

disturbing just a memory of the surface.

A cricket, bowing longing in the grass,

rehearses earnest as a violinist.

When inattentive walkers closely pass,

he startles them with sudden falling silence.