With gentle insistence
The ocean rises up to greet me
And I, pant legs rolled to my calves
Welcome it’s cool, frothy embrace
Enjoy the caress of water over my ankles
The sensation of sinking into the sand
As the receding wave draws the beach
From beneath my feet
I stay there for an hour or so
Take a few steps back
When the waves threaten my trousers
A few steps forward
When they fail to reach me
My sandpiper dance
In time with the surf song
And its choir of gulls
I stand alone
Solitude in shadow
Cast by arcing stone
Find peace in gentle breeze
Wafting warmth from heated earth
Find beauty in nature’s chiseled landscape
Salted inner sea
Perturbed not at all
By even a breeze
Offers its peaceful cradle
To the failing sun
A seductive rock
On ocean’s edge
Half the day
Surrounded by the tide
Attracting thousands
Nature’s iconic monument
To a monumental coastline
In time with the waves’ ungentle caress
They saunter near, then scramble back
This flightless flock of sandpipers
Photographs and selfies
Arm-in-arm and hand-in-hand
A deep breath in, a longer one out
The calm that comes on any shore
Where the surf rumbles and sighs
Some may say it’s the rock
But the rock is a draw as any other draw
A pier, a lighthouse, beach chairs and gazebos
It is the sea which helps us remember ourselves
A lazy Thursday morning
When life is but a stroll in the sand
With the river flowing out
The waves rolling in
Very breath of Earth
As we all take a welcome sigh
In advance of the hodge-podge concerns
The day will all-too-soon offer
May I carry that sigh of the sea
Into the coming hours
Breathe in waves of beauty
Let the day’s worries flow from my earthly body
The only weight I’ll bear
Left behind on the beach
Footprints in the sand
Drowsy sun peeks from
Under fluffy comforter
Chooses to rise up
This amber glow
To end the day
In just repose
As glories fade
Now soon the night
Will bring its peace
This wintry light
A shortened lease
Though night be long
December chill
The fire’s song
And downy fill
Warm my soul
‘Til slumber comes
Pay dreamy toll
Returns the sun
Dawn comes softly
In pastels
With a light wind
I breathe in the moment
Then hold on
To what I don’t want to let go
This peace
This sanctuary
This moving on
A quiet
I have not allowed myself
To experience
In a long time
Time
In my body
Letting the world be
Just as it is
Beautiful
And dark
Tranquil
And distressed
But just for this moment
Beautiful
And tranquil
That is enough
For the dawn
Day’s end
A gentle paddle
On glassy seas
My body
At peace
With my mind
With the land
With the water
With the sky
My spirit rises
To the surface
Of my being
My consciousness
Swirls in the essence
Of all that is
Like eddies
Hugging a paddle
In a vast
Bottomless
Sea
Pix to Words 