Early morning floods the sky
above Gardiner’s Bay, pomegranate red
and gold of Buddhist temples.
Piping plovers hatch their brood on pebbly sand.
Walkers navigate the cordoned beach,
avoid the wrath of mother birds.

Steps from this enchanted beach
the bumbles and the honeys
flock the lavender, drink nectar,
caroling and greeting with their canticle
the occasional guest appearance
of a ruby-throated hummingbird.
A refuge for surviving bees,
poolside garden at my summer house.

I descend the stairs,
to take a vigorous swim.
Wading in, I wake with dawn,
delight in the lusty, steady hum,
a thrum that rumbles from the lavender beds.

Deep purple comes alive and so do I,
swimming laps, sharing first light
breathing scent, rare and intimate,
rising from the sweet and heady agitation
of bees exploring blossoms.

Rosalind Brenner is an artist/poet living and working in Springs, grateful for the beauty and bounty of the area, hoping for a better world for all people. MFA-Sarah Lawrence College. Published in Cortland Review; Poetry Bay; Southampton Review; Long Island Sounds; Ontologica; Arroyo Literary Review; many others. 30/30 Tupelo Poet. Books: “Omega’s Garden,” Finishing Line Press; “All That’s Left,” Art House Press. Published April 2019: “Every Glittering Chimera,” Blue Light Press.