Sand
Clean white sand
warm in summer
rolling wet
hot bodies
fresh from swimming
in the Sound
Frozen white
salted  crunch
underfoot in winter
wind blasting
eye stinging
unforgiving bits of it
Sand obsessed Arthur
the wave caressed
pitch of dune
shaped by fetch
and depth
Rooted in beachgrass tendrils
entrapped in the
timber groins we built
along this stretch of beach
formed the fine and
delicate line
that kept
Nantucket Sound
from scruffing up his stoop
Athearn House
stuck vunerable
an icon on the bluff
Like Arthur
the Guardian
the Protector
looming tall and high
all seeing
No grain moved unaware
armed with his bulging binder
each permit
crossed
and dotted
Like the seasons
he rolled them out
to pump
to nourish
to spread
and dig
and plant
to repair the groins
that helped to hold
his precious sand
Then finally
the beach stabilized
big blows would slide
crashing and frothing
right off Arthur’s slope
He seemed to reach
that balance
Nature’s tipping point
relaxed
from Arthur’s relentless
perseverance
from his shear will

Honest
Arthur had a softer side
a loving careful
fulsome side of which
he’d share
Ebulliant
proud without pride
he relished in other’s gifts
their joy reflected in
his love
Self deprecating
keenly aware
the slighted wince
or crease in time
reflected in the face
of this long
tall gangly guy
romantic to the core

Young Love
in later years is rare and
Arthur was a boy for it all
unabashed
And like his sand
so steadfastly maintained
on dark and dreadful
storm thrashed nights
where his dreams led him
to stalk the threatened edge
full moon
cloud dark and
restless
willing  the dune
to hold fast
it’s natural sloping shape
And like the sand
whirling in the wind
and in the break of surf
how he kept
his love intact
holding life’s dune
the long fingers
of his heart
subtle and strong
like beach grass
holding close
Mary Stewart
Loring
all the family
all his friends
Reaching out to him
helping form his
life’s sandy dune
And when Arthur’s time came
relentless
like the tide
that caressed
and shaped
his life
he slipped away
safe and secure
the receding wave
sliding off
the gentle slope of sand
into the early morning light