Pacific Ocean

Sandy beach delineating sea and land
Rocky cliffs rising craggy and foreboding
Ocean stretching to an imaged distant shore.

Nearby a man walks with his treasured camera
Lost in the moment
Photographing a rare treasured scalloped shell
The boy walks by himself
Gazing at the ocean and water glistening
Listening to gulls calling
Watching sandpipers running
He looks behind him
His father has trained the camera on the cliffs
The boy watches breathing easy
It’s good to be together like this
This one time a year
He bends down touching the sea and licks his fingers
Then he stands and walks toward his dad
The old man turns kinds eyes crinkled in thought
Then he raises his camera
Click
The boy smiles
So does his father
A once in a lifetime moment
Captured forever.