Orison (Prayer to a Dolphin)
Here on the shore lies half of you…
a black and white kind creature
from the ocean’s depths
whose brain is smarter than humans,
and who wouldn’t hurt anyone.
Here you lie…
baking in the sun,
smelling,
black flies perching-
dead…
I loose control weeping.
i imagine you with your pod
diving below to the great abyss-
that unfathomable darkness,
that we as humans turn away from.
Brave warrior of the sea,
you turn night into day.
You rise from that murky black floor
diving up and down and up and down
making happy noises
as if celebrating that dark as a gift
I don’t know what happened to you-
caught in a fisherman’s net,
eaten by a bigger whale,
sick from digesting rotting algae from global warming?
Oh, muse of the ocean
magician of darkness
captain of light…
Thank you for showing us
how to navigate
the waters of death.
7/12/23 Belle Cote Beach, N.S.
I, Sea
I go to the Sea…
it holds me in my hard places,
and rocks me til’ I’m soft and yielding
I go to the Sea…
I feel my body armour loosening,
and my masks floating away
I go to the Sea…
It takes me by the hand and walks me out further,
dwarfing my fears
and washing away my smallness
I go to the Sea…
It shows me its’ depth,
and i see myself.
7/22/23 Margaree Harbour, N.S.