Land’s End

A day all blue and white, and we Came out of woods to sand And snow-capped waves. The sea Rose with us as we walked, the land Built dunes, a lighthouse, and a sky of gulls. Here where I built my life ten years ago, The day breaks gray and cold; And brown surf, muddying the shore, Deposits fish-heads, sewage, rusted tin. Children and men break bottles on the stones. Beyond the lighthouse, black against the sky, Two gulls are circling where the woods begin.