Early spring on the New England coast

"It was cold and windy, scarcely the day
to take a walk on that long beach
Everything was withdrawn as far as possible, 
indrawn: the tide far out, the ocean shrunken, 
seabirds in ones or twos. 
The rackety, icy, offshore wind
numbed our faces on one side; 
disrupted the formation
of a lone flight of Canada geese; 
and blew back the low, inaudible rollers
in upright, steely mist." 

--  Elizabeth Bishop, "The End of March''