When I was so small (and the world was so large)

When I was so small (and the world was so large)

When I was so small,

and the world was so large,

and you were so tall 

that I had to look up,

We would go to the beach, 

collecting.

Things the sea's waves had left

on the sand

we could hold in our hands;

A fossilized rock,

or an agate, or glass

tossed soft

 were too special to pass.

You taught me to hear

with a shell to my ear.

All I heard was a roar;

 like the holler

of everything hollow

 the ocean has swallowed,

then spit somewhere else.

(What's it like on your shore?)