SAMMIS BEACH

Sammis Beach

 

Where the bay water licks

At the rough and shell-filled shore

There are memories of days

When my childhood hours were spent

With cousins who taunted

And brothers who followed suit

Days when summer's sun caused red skin

Before we knew that the sun was not our friend.

Those were days when family gathered

To share the afternoon of lazing

When Dad would paddle his canoe

Like a great Indian warrior

Across the shallow places

Where the spider crabs sought out our toes.

Sunday lunches of peanut butter and jelly

Sandwiches with as much sand as jelly

Collections of tiny hermit crabs who poked out

Only to swiftly retreat

And hunts for camouflaged sand crabs

That burrowed into the sides of the holes we'd dig

Weary and tired with salt stained skin

We would wander to our homes

And prepare a meal to share in Grandma's backyard.

 

 

~Kathleen Beebe Waygood