Unforgotten Beaches

Unforgotten Beaches The ball bounced across the smooth polished tile past the sleeping cat that adorns the door Out across luxurious green lawns Past the sole yellow balloon that lingers near the sad painted clown propped against abandoned arcades Rolling feverishly down the decaying boardwalk Where the children’s laughter now falls silent and the memories made are carried out to sea And the ball slows many moments too soon and lays to rest in the unstirred sand Where thousands once walked with pockets of change And women’s bodies bronzed evenly under the hot summer sun The imprints they made washed away in the rain