revenant

the creaking slats
of the house by the sea
have peeled off
like fingernails.
ghosts catch themselves on them
and tear like sheets.

the long whisperings
of the tall grass surrounding.

peter & she
went down to the sea,
buckets swaying
in their tiny fists.

lightning skewered the sky
and the slow children howled
as the wind shoved them.
she held to her hat
and set her jaw.

at the beach,
in the furious rain,
she sliced her sole
on a broken shell.
the ocean vampiric
sucked it out
from between her toes.

beyond,
the hulking silhouette
of a small ship foundering
on groaning waves.

peter's hand
fastened to hers.
she looked at his eyes.
in them reflected
she saw a storm
and could not distinguish
between the two.

now, ruins,
but sun.
neither peter
nor she.

the long whisperings
of the tall grass surrounding.