JULY 1999

I had longed by sea to dwell,
To hear its sounds for all my life,
Its murmurs and its mighty roar
When waves would pound on rocky
Cliffs and white water rose
Foaming, fleeting when the water
Ebbed and came again, varied and vasty.

How then came I to live not near the sea
Nor even near those oceans wide,
But in this land with air so hot
It sears the skin and dries the eyes?
My longing lives, will never die.
“I must go down to the seas again,
To the lonely sea and the sky.”
I would not want a tall ship
And the stars to steer her by,
But the sounds of living water
Green and grey to lull me
Dreaming in the dark and day
Of lives long lived upon the sea
Daring the elements, braving the depths,
To reach far lands and bring their wares
To countries longing for the strange and new –
Sounds, colours and tastes which told of peoples
Far away with other lives and dreams like mine.

JEB

For more information on these poems, contact edmund@balnaves.org