an old childless couple
their backs bent to the wind
were wandering along the shore
collecting drift wood
and there he was
his neck lodged between the two intersecting branches
of a floating log

half blind themselves
they didn't notice
the child had only one eye

they gazed with wonder at each other
heard the gurgling from the child's throat
muttered for unto us a child is born
and repeated it over and over
shaking each other

and for the first time in their lives
they were happy

disentangling the child from the branch
they wrapped it in the woman's shawl

she cradled it in the slow warmth of her body
and they limped back to their shack
on the seashore

one eye had come home.