First time seeing the ocean

We were driving at night under a close moon
along a tree-lined two-lane paved highway
that couldn’t make up its mind which direction to take
which would occasionally drop down into thicker air
and run by a thin stand of fir
where we could see through to a vast field of silver wetness

And we stopped the car
threw open four doors
left the road and sunk past our ankles in moss
scrambled over a tangled mountain of bleached logs
hit the flat sand in our prairie sneakers
and ran until our lungs ached through our sides

And still the water, the wide water widened still
the great globe of it, the perceivable curve of it
stood off and away
and my skinny body suddenly understood eternity

It was the first time I saw the ocean, I mean really saw it
and somewhere someone said
some sibyl or poet, sailor or pilot
or maybe it was you that said
        there is another world
        and it is this one

12 Comments

  1. thin stand of fur – did you mean fir?

    “There is another world and it is this one.” I like that: creation and re-creation as a way of seeing. It makes me think about…
    “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” (Rev. 21:1 ESV)
    “Then I saw a new earth (with no oceans!) and a new sky, for the present earth and sky had disappeared” (Rev. 21:1 TLB)

    Unfinished thoughts…. Thanks for the vision….

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