Featured in the 2022 Spring Issue of Rambunctious
a pearl in the sand Gabby McNally, '24 i am just a pearl, my feet in the sand. the waves that i see are so free. the weight in my heart is an anchor and you, my love, are the sea. i am just a gull, singling loudly for you. your waves that i see are so tidal, for all time, and again, i will chase your flood, because the beach, to a gull, is so vital. instead of just planting my feet in the sand, i am just the wind, whipping up breeze i don’t know how your waves bend backward i don’t know how you dance with such ease. i am just a shell, stuck to your ear and your waves aren’t how they used to be they shape and form into something seductive you are made for all the fish in the sea. i am a pearl in a clam, pure and protected, this you hold until i forget that it’s gone but i stand before your waves, the many things i do hide washed away with the tide at dawn i am just a pearl, not gold or silver just the rock of the land nothing special, never to be heard again, just me and my feet in the sand