crests and troughs ride the rolling tide
waves heavy with white grains of sand
stroke and shape the lake’s shifting land
until it slides dunes steep and wide

dunes slide steep and wide not real hills
but fine particles of rock ground
stacked grains without glue sculpted mounds
carved by wind gusts and water spills

wind blown carved by water until
keen sand thrusts a cliff-hanger pose
precarious, then a breeze blows
crests to clefts, the chasms to hills

dunes just flowers that own more time
wither bloom and shape the coastline