Sunday, September 17, 2023

Waiting By the Sea



This tidepool day you inhabit contains more than
 you need. It stirs now and then to bring
 faint news of old storms deeper than the earth.
 From caves around you feelers and claws wave
 their greeting, then slowly withdraw
    and wait for tomorrow. 

 Sunlight is alive when it swims down where you are,
 and you stand still, alert to take in the sun.
 You become a stone, then a ghost of a stone,
 then the gone water’s brilliant memory 
    of where a stone was.

 Making the day expand in your heart and return,
 you play a limited part in whatever life is,
 practicing for that great gift when enlightenment
 comes, that long instant when the tide
     calls your name.

 --William Stafford

Joyce Morgan, a long-time beloved friend, died last week.  Since she once mentioned that she enjoyed Poetry Monday, this repost is dedicated to her memory.  May she rest in peace.  The good she did and was lives on.

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