ON THE BEACH

	On the beach, alone, two naked bodies.  Sitting together in
folding chairs spotted with rust, creaking in the stillness. Rotting
by the water, empty beer bottles piling up on the sand beside them.
Both with tanned skin, but beneath the tan a sicky sort of washed out
grey leaks through.  Their eyes are stuck on the sea, unblinking,
clear and empty.  The sky is clear and empty but not very bright.
A deadened dullness cushions everything.
	His chest shrinks with a sigh.  He turns his head toward her,
that creaking sound.  Her eyes are at sea, spread over that endless
wet spot.  His head falls slowly over, salt-dry lips against her neck
and he says "It has gone," his tone as flat and shapeless as sand.
	She looks at him, the sea compressed in the inches between
their eyes. "What?" her voice pouring out, vast and indifferent.  
He gestures slowly.
	She looks down at the limp little thing, shrunken and lost
in the sandy tangle, slit head like a dumb sad face.  "It is gone."
He says again.  A smile spreads in waves over her face.  A long
giggle bubbles up from her with the smell of beer.
	"The way of all flesh," she says and she loses herself
again in the sea, the wet spot that is endless.