Rocky Beach

Maybe someday
this will be just another
pristine, sandy beach
and tourists can play dune tag
and volleyball in the sand
locals will even come out on the nice weekends
with their beach towels and boogie-boards
to enjoy the feeling
of sand leaking up between their toes

but for now
I'll take the smooth gray pebbles
giving way beneath your feet
the seals' heads
bobbing on the rolling waves
of their secluded cove
floating closer
to sate their curiosity

I'll take the breathtaking impact
of waves on rocks
pinnacles, fortresses against time
the waves a culmination of forces we barely even understand
compelling them shore-ward, to land

For now
I can feel, almost oppressively, the force of the ocean
its passion rings in my ears
like the pebbles
cascading down the beach
as the wave retreats
nature's xylophone
treating whoever is present
to a breathtaking chorus

Give it enough time
and that beach might become sand
and you can take it.
I'll have to move on
and find another rocky beach.