At the Edge of the Sea (for Rachel Carson)

Death is the one event that everyone knows
never happens the way it is supposed to.

Death is a secret realm. It has an entrance with 
fountains scented with lavender masking the stench

of blood. On the loudspeakers, the rhythms of eternity.
On the front door, a quote by Rachel Carson: 

each grain on a beach is the result of processes
that go back into the shadowy beginnings of life.

George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such publications as the Hazmat ReviewMoria Poetry JournalChronogram JournalAmpersand Literary ReviewThe Angle at St. John Fisher College, and 3:16 Journal. George’s blogs, essays and letters have appeared in USA TodayThe Wall Street JournalThe AtlanticHavana TimesSouth China Morning PostThe Buffalo News, and more. 

See all his poems on Tea House here.

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