The Rules of Engaging Grief

A walk at dawn inspired this poem. What would I do if I did not live a couple of hundred yards from the ocean?

“When Still”

Would that I never

Tire of a sunrise,

That lava hot liquid

Oozing from a depth

Not seen but imagined,

In instant it creates

A rip between rain clouds

Above ripple green sea –

A distant flame that shines

Two dolphins to surface,

Four cormorants as they

Tip touch surf in melody,

A container ship long haul

To ports beyond expression –

All recognized when still.

Sometimes I find that when my mind is weary a depth opens within that was previously overlooked.

“Caffeine Throttled”

I’m startled wide-awake
Long after I should sleep,
A mind caffeine-throttled
In conversation with you.

Next morning weariness dulls,
Fatigue rescues me from all
That cries for resolution –
I remain distant within.

Settled soft I catch a breeze,
Spy a lone dolphin submerge
Beneath the easy surf and
Gentle, hesitant sunrise.

What is harmony, peace, but
Yielding to consciousness,
From which the active mind is
Tossed - wrestled down contrite?