Time and Tide
The genesis for this poem was written in 1976. I have only recently revised it.
Regular reader will be familiar with the sea – in all its moods, and as they reflect my own - as a theme for many later poems.
Sometimes, the sea inspires me; sometimes it comforts me; sometimes it scares me, especially as I grow old(er) and am inclined to see it as a living metaphor for a splendid vastness that will surely (for good or ill, better or worse) one day claim my spirit.
TIME AND TIDE
The lonely sea
laps at my feet, stars in the sky
small comfort;
on a hushed beach,
a huge white moon winks wryly
at me
Sun, sea, sand,
slipping through weepy fingers
like kinder times;
life, death, love,
hovering low above, still waiting
for Godot
Wind grown cold,
I growing old with all the stoicism
of a sand statue;
night-pools, they swirl
around me, surprise, confound me
with home truths
Though I dare
a sleepy shore’s passions reawaken,
I know…
why the lonely sea
laps at my feet, stars in the sky
small comfort
Copyright R. N. Taber 2001; 2012
[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears in Love and Human Remains by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2000.]
Labels: emotions, feelings, global consciousness, human, imagination, inspiration, life, mind-body-spirit, moods, nature, personal space, poetry, reflections, sea, senses, spirit, spirituality, time