Villanelle on the Oregon Coast

Villanelle on the Oregon Coast
For Margaret Prentice

Many a time I've dreamed of such a place,
Where darkened headlands tumbled to the shore
And a white ocean blew against my face;

An inland valley gave a breathing space
Against the water's overwhelming roar.
Many a time I've dreamed of such a place,

But the great wind of dream-time would erase
All human detail, leaving just a core
That the white ocean blew against my face;

Now, though, our footprints measure out our pace
Upon this homeland that I never saw
(Many a time I've dreamed of such a place);

The cypress-pins and huckleberry-lace
Had been invisible to me before
When the white ocean blew against my face:

Sister and stranger, you gave me the grace
To read the print upon the windblind shore.
Many a time I'll dream of such a place,
Where that white ocean blows against my face.