Shoring Up

Morning light filters dimly
through dense fog, spreads
past beachcombers who
fail to see the roiling waters.
Barely outlining headlands,
a sunbeam holds on to rising
seas of far-flung reason.

Looming rock monoliths
of creation darken the dawn,
and overshadow stones
shaped smooth by currents
of logical beginnings. Tide pools
bristle with biblical barnacles.

By noon, hot, overhead sun
traces a path through damp
sand and broken bottle glass,
racing waves unfurling a high
tide of school vouchers and
church/state entanglements.
A froth of ignorance floats above
verifiable scientific knowledge.

As night descends, atheists,
humanists, and constitutional
scholars tend a watch fire
of rationality, hold at bay?
stealthy bottom feeders who,
with charm and misdirection,
subvert the national tide.

(Photo by Daniel Solomon Photography | Dreamstime.com)