I could taste the salt
rolling through my hair.

Trudging closer still, along the
secluded cape on rough
stretch of jagged, slippery
rocks that dotted the beach
like stars did the sky, searching
for that deep hole hollowed
by Thor’s hammer
purified by centuries of erosion
and corrosion,
once standing as a
majestic underwater cave.

Tidal waves cascaded
in against the cove as the
foamy blanket filled
the well and spouted a thousand
feet into the air, the howling
force so violent it nearly
knocked me over.

It retreated back down first
slowly, then all at once--
the gateway to the underworld.
There marked the end
of rhythmic phenomenon:
Pacific shooting up, only to be
swallowed once more.

There I stood gazing
at the endless cycle,
as aggression tumbled into grace
again and again
and again