Beachcombing

by John Mason

Among wave-sculpted driftwood
smoothed blue-green glass shards
a headless doll naked
worn down red brick
plastic once-somethings
pebbles patiently grit-drilled
and wreaths of rusted barbed wire
a treasured empty shell:
intricate architecture
telling of homelessness
absence death
on lonely expanses
winged tears absorbed
in a bleak wind-borne requiem