Chesapeake

September 26, 2007

There is a point as you come off the bridge
and are just out of Thimble Shoals tunnel
where the curve of the road faces you due west.
514 pm in the afternoon of a January day
you face into the sun, sinking into the bay.
the water is gold and red and dark,
the sun bisected by the waterline and wave
and a thin strip of coastal cloud.
You know you are but 15 miles from home and bed
but looking west you get the sense
of what Columbus really did sailing out of sight of land
and the fear of falling off the end of the world.
the first star is out over to the east, above the tourists beach
but your home and hearth are calling
and night comes, and the wind is rising.