We have had a few quiet and reflective days here by the sea in Pafos. I have really enjoyed the down time and the refreshing salt winds of the sea. It has been great to spend time knitting, reading, meditating, and writing some poetry of my own. Here’s one of the few that I have written in the last few days.

The Sea and the Poet

The sea is awake and the sand asleep.

Waves wash over the uncombed

glittering grains with generosity.

Over and over they move

in tandem, in rhythm—the washing

in and out of great salty waters—

leaving the house-shell treasures

of ocean life scattered upon the coast.

The footprints of poets before me

have washed into the depths of the ocean

bottom, but their words live in the foamy

waves and sparkle upon the sand.

Some are tarnished from the salt

and just need a quick polish. Others

are worn or torn, and some are old,

hardly legible.

I picked up a few good ones today and

displayed them on white shelves

in my house, but they didn’t feel

at home there. So I carefully

cradled them in a large pink

conch sea shell for safekeeping.

The kind I treasured as a child.

I’ll bring them out

word by word (maybe letter by letter)

for further examination

when the stars shine on the

inky blue waters of velvet midnight.

Then I’ll rearrange them

and use them over.

~original

Pafos, Cyprus, January 25, 2010