reading significance

we listened hard and heard as ocean broke

on quiet beaches and the foamy white

fingers of immense force seemed to delight

in what they touched let our tired feet soak

in the warm salty pleasure of each stroke

of that great hand the day was sharp and  bright

and the whole universe seemed ours by right

we laughed and thought we understood the joke

so much of knowledge is how each can feel

a world of magics at the skin's tight end

without a sense of energy or strain

this case is settled on the first appeal

because we find that each can best attend

to matters that are well set out and plain