The Punchline

Alone,
I walk the length of the pier
and stand reflected in choppy water.

There are a thousand other things
I could be doing.
Even more I should be doing.
Cool wind tosses my hair
and blows all such considerations
into the bay.

Let those things
that could be done, should
be done, wait.

Right now
wind and sun and water
are enough.

So thinking, I see
a sleek brown seal
break the water
just yards from where I stand.

Bobbing on his back
amid shimmering, wind cut waves
he gazes in my direction
and seems to grin beneath his whiskers �
as if the two of us were privy
to the punchline
of some great and secret joke.

And, of course, we are.

Originally published in Talking Raven - Hope, Faith & Good News, Spring 1995.

Wind tossed hair? Is that what happened to it?