Thursday, May 1, 2008

A Path by the Water -- for B.B.C.


Waves rolling on the shore; simple, unashamed
of etching arcs and curves on the coast.
Its language is all its own,
different from mine;
not full of conjecture;
meaning no harm
and no good by
lapping shanti,
lapping shanti,
shanti.
Cresting
air and sea spray;
a flowing infused mist
rolling seemingly gently like
hundreds of horses on cobble-
stone paths the high water mark
lined with beached driftwood and twine.
Waves rolling on the lucid shores of time:

shanti, shanti, shanti.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

ऊँ शान्ति ऊँ

Roxanne said...

the shape of the poem emotes your message ...I like how "shanti" and "cresting" seem to be at the ebb of the wave, not at its crest ....

Debra Kay said...

Lovely, like the ocean.

human being said...

beauuuutiful!
in the first place, because it transcends the person it is justly dedicated to... and encompasses the whole cosmos... this transcendence is reinforced by the conversion of the image of waves rolling on a physical shore... into the waves rolling on the shores of time... where our experience reaches a cosmic level ....
and both are modified as simple/lucid... this simplicity is of the kind we get to after a lot of complex an intricate conceptions and misconceptions...

the shape is another striking feature... as Honour beautifully described it... a wave... with 'shanti' as its ebb... that peaceful moment of pause...that peace within...

and it is also beautiful because this poem is the poet himself... this is Hopper with his most characteristic feature i've known about him... a beautiful soul ebbing and cresting like a wave... swinging back and forth between acceptance and questioning or rebellion... love and anger... doing and not doing.... to be or not to be....

And when a poet talks about himself... a whole world nod affirmatively...
since the poet's soul is out of his body extending throughout the cosmos....

Really enjoyed 'delving' into these waves...
namaste!

BBC said...

It's not like that here often, only during big storms.

Lynn Cohen said...

I love the shape of the words like waves...and shanti, do you sing?
Fred sings sea shanti's has sea history in his family, may have told you this before...
did you see my request to use your Tsdkaka box photo, may I please?
(in a piece of art on WWII America's Greatest Generation quilt)