Cliff Notes

By Robert Tighe

Above the horizon a lighter blue

a color faded and inconsistent

as if seen through thin white film

an atmosphere cold and dampened

in open contact with the rippled 

darker blue liquid below

reaching across and flowing 

from distance to the unseen base of

this tall vertical granite-gray cliff

I look outward and downward

from an edge I dare not approach

at least not while standing.

But this solid edge is illumined

by hours of afternoon sun 

seduced by that solar warmth 

I spread myself out, reassured by

close contact on the solidity of that edge

I stretch my head forward

to put eyes over the precipice

and the view that I could not have

viewed otherwise.

Thus reassured by recumbent form

I absorb not only the gentle heat of the rock

but also vibrations that radiate upward 

from the crash of waves far below 

striking and slowly eroding caves

below my position in repetitive blows

unseen except for the spray tossed out

from wave strike against the headland

at the base of my granite redoubt

which will yield but slowly,

erosion unseen but certainly heard and felt.