From the beach

Dark sea, and a small boat setting out, the rower launching alone from the beach, easy with the oars, till a great wave knocks the boat stern-down, skidding it sideways as he pulls hard astarboard to keep it from capsizing, hitting the crest and sliding beam first into the trough, the wave curling above him as he spins the bow seaward - and then the slice clean through the crest, the bow straight, wave to wave, and the dark sea deep now, swelling and sinking, the sun low on the water and the far beach scarlet, the gulls scarlet overhead.