What to see; (For Sarah Katherine)

October 12, 1984

I want some things to stay the same Until you've seen them, though not all Are so simple as a flame Of maple in fall edging an old field. (You will see that, surely, and recall The way I said a tree concealed Its real intent until the frost Has singed the air around it.) The old towns will not long be worth the cost, Nor the herring weirs, nor, someday, Eastport pier (For the sea will pound it to splinters once again), And these will all, for good or ill, be lost. But not, I hope, before you have seen The sum of these decaying parts combine With one Atlantic dawn of rare design: Lobster boats rocking on a red sea, serene.