“There is a cloud small as a man’s hand rising from the sea.”
 —1 Kgs 18:44

There is a bird large as a seraph lighting on the sand.
There is a shadow swift as a rumor traveling the grass.

They were right, the ancients, to fear water
Cling to cliffs, pitch dwellings high above the tide

To know all lands are islands in one ocean
And fewer the islands as the waters rise.

Build boats, then, if you must, and sail them if you dare
But the path you make will be erased by wind

And crueler than hunger is thirst amidst the deep.
And God alone may know where you find shore.

This article appears in February 17 2020.

Diane Vreuls has published a novel, two books of poems, a collection of short stories and a children's book. Her work has appeared in The Paris Review, Commonweal, The New Yorker and elsewhere.