The sea calls out, beckons, tempts those on the shore to come to it. Indeed the land itself is not immune to the allure of the sea. When writing this poem I tried to use sensual language to evoke an emotional response. These are the love songs of the sea.
Love Songs Of The Sea
IThe twisting fingers of the sea stretch into the land
sift through salt marshes, mud flats and tidal creeks,
enters the mouths of rivers, calls to the mountains
to lie with it in its bed, one small stone at a time.
IIThe incantations of waves drift across sand bars
and skeleton reefs, sing to the bones of mountains,
whisper for men to leave the beds of their wives,
of the two flesh, one to lie in the strong arms of the sea.
IIIThe light of the sun dances a low dance slow
across the breast of the sea. Blue and gold fold
over and around the crested ripples of the wind on water —
white where the sea breathes in what remains of the day.
IVHaving rippled all of yesterday’s footprints away, the wind
struggles through thickets of low clouds — black foliage
of the sky, blooming gold, shedding rain, moving in
to sculpt the dry sand and blow the slow waves in.
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Previously published (in slightly different form) in “The Water Log” 1995