SEA AND SEE

SEA AND SEE

Written 7/14/09 

Comfortable in my chair on Woods Hole Beach, my pen poised to capture the magnificence surrounding me, I watch a bird; large, dark and sleek as he glides just above the water, then lands on the surface and disappears below.  In his wake, is a vast expanse of ocean, waves breaking loudly with scent and color. The sky, a clear cerulean, meets the sea, in stark contrast to water colored blue black with crystalline splashes of white.  Yet twenty feet from shore, the color changes to celery green darkened with the brown of sea weeds that rise to the top of each breaking wave. They sway with the rhythm of the water that teases them in, and then snaps them back, as if dancing a tango.  In the distance beyond, a ferry, brim full of vacationers, swiftly follows the channel toward the Vineyard as it passes a tug with barge in tow, laboring into port.

When I chose my spot to write this morning, I wasn’t quite sure that I’d be inspired by the sleepy looking beach scene before me; a few sun bathers, a swimmer or two, distant boats on the horizon and gulls overhead.  I’m thrilled though, to find a much larger spectacle of motion, color and sound in an ever changing array. As I look up now, a Coast Guard Cutter is quickly heading inland, appearing intent on a mission as it disappears behind the big house high up on a cliff.  I wonder for a brief second where my attention will fall next until I notice an infantry of puffy white clouds lazily marching in formation out to sea.  I am awed with this gallery of images before me, feeling such joy and serenity and deliciously content with my hour of writing ‘words of nature’. My eyes have opened and my heart is full.