A Poem for Beginnings

My mug leaves a ring on the bathroom counter
Brown, circular. There
Is the day beginning? Or is it just now ending?

Gritty, wet sand shines speckled in the hand.
Smear it over legs cold and kissed by the sea.
Adventures beginning? Perhaps this is the end
Of a trip half-remembered two months later.

The smokey smell of twilight
Snakes its way up my porch.
Where is the sun rising? On whom is it setting?

Cries beg for a fresh drink to appease the toothless appetite.
Moans down a hallway demand relief
from the wet, clingy diaper.
Life is new. But maybe this is the final scene.

Beginnings and endings
Wear similar hues,
Cast the same long shadows.

Water drips from the faucet
Heedless of time, oblivious
To the order of life.
On it goes. Still it goes.