it's always ourselves wE find in the sea...

I Stumbled across a poem by e.e. Cummings yesterday afternoon, and was struck by the last two lines...

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea

For myself, this is as true a statement as there is. I have been fascinated by the sea for all of my life, having lived on or near it for the first twenty-seven years of my life. And, believe it or not, I've written quite a bit on my fascination. Here are but a few samples...

It was vast, the Great Hall,
The dancers a sea, and I a lighthouse
Casting a light across the undulant deep, wild and flowing
A warning to those who might think to stop…
     Dance on, I prayed, beware these shores; hard, merciless, unmoving
Dance as long as Fate allows

--from The Dance

Life is a dance, and the dance is a sea of humanity; no one dancer perfect, but the whole a thing of tremendous beauty.

He looked out over the edge of the dock, looking into eyes that danced crazily on the surface, its form but a vague shadow on the waters rough surface. Without a word it reached into its coat pocket and pulled out a large black gun. It lifted the gun to its temple, squeezed the trigger, and fell lifelessly into its reflection.

--from Thrice Upon a Shore

Three short short stories painting images of life and death at the edge of the sea.

When the waters finally settled and its surface grew calm, Crearachenala searched beneath the waves for Enohtoo's body. When she found him she cradled his mighty head upon her lap and wept.

For all the many years that Ocean's waters filled the basin that is Zon, Crearachenala returned, when the waters lay calm, to where he lay and brought with her the soft rains to sweeten the waters where he slept.

--from In the Light of a Dying Sun, Book One. The Cradle of Giants

Nature has a way, both elegant and powerful, of leveling the balances. Get in the way of the natural order of things and the results can be disastrous.

I've washed my room with golden light
Laid chilled wine ~ two glasses by
Threw open windows to let in the sea
Accompaniment for my lovers' sigh

--from Washing the Room

Eroticism is not the sole pervue of sight... Or taste, touch, scent... the pounding of surf too sings of eroticism.

Sing to me a familiar song
Lips brush mine ~ our breath a song
Like the gentle susurring sea

--from One-Hundred Years Entwining

The sound of surf is perfect for spiritual and physical centering. All you have to do is stand in the surf to know your place, and sleep beneath its song to know cleansing restorative rest.

I have been too long from her garden. I know she is violence, yet I am drawn to her. Though she be calm above, yet am I turmoil within, without her. She is my lover, and I hers. She longs for me to lay furrows across her back with any ship I can find, and looking back, watch her smooth my wake without enmity. She smiles to know I long for her, to ride her swells, to feel her breath on my face and taste the salt of her tears. I awake each morning with that longing, wondering if our paths again will converge. But she is patient, if not always forgiving; she knows my heart is not my own, and that all things return to her in time.

--from Long From Her Gardens

A biographic foray into the fascination I have for sea. I love her, but fear her... I am properly respectful.

She learned my name years ago and has not forgotten it, calling me by name, often whispering to me as I sleep, sighing, "Return to me, you have been away too long."

There's a lot to find at edge of the ocean, not the least of which is yourself. And speaking of which, have you ever heard the band Ivy? I could listen to the following song all day long and never get tired of it...






Edge of the Ocean

There's a place I dream about
Where the sun never goes out.
And the sky is deep and blue.
Won't you take me there with you.

Ohhh, we can begin again.
Shed our skin, let the sun shine in.
At the edge of the ocean
We can start over again.

There's a world I've always known
Somewhere far away from home.
When I close my eyes I see
All the space and mystery.

Ohhh, we can begin again.
Shed our skin, let the sun shine in.
At the edge of the ocean
We can start over again.

Enjoy your next trip to the beach. I will.