Under the low arch of the winter sun
we sit on the edge of the year
on the continent’s shoreline fringe
watching wave surges on the headlands
scrying, to read the signs of the times,
to foretell what is to come.

We cast our vision over a gray Pacific
into its depths, out to its tumbling reaches
as a fisherman heaves a line,
to catch what may come from the sea.

Storms hide in the blurred horizon
monsters rise out of the blue.
Sirens cry from billowing mists
as surging swells roll through our dreams
perilous breakers crash onto our lighted shores.

The year brims over its rim urged on
by profound deep vaults of time.
It pours as from a font down and down
bearing faultless light in trailing veils
with streaming banners and twirling ribbons.
The speckled year slips over its blue edge
into sunsets’ serene and golden bowl.

Manzanita, Oregon – December 31, 2017.  Photo taken 12/30/2017 northwest to Neahkahnie mountain.  In the Tillamook tribal language, Neahkahnie means “place of the Creator.”  (https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/neahkahnie_mountain/#.WkfwAZVy7X4