The tang of salt imbues the mist –
a calling I cannot resist.
I walk along the rocky shore
held spellbound by the ocean’s roar.
As darkness falls, the fog rolls in
and, from the lighthouse, shapes begin
to stalk within the opaque veils
like illustrations of its tales.
The cloying haze seems to transcend
reality, here at land’s end.
I see the ghosts of tortured souls,
their names inscribed on filmy scrolls.
There stands a lover who lost hope,
there a traitor, wrapped in rope,
a lost ship’s crew, still foundering
and fighting off the storms of spring.
Above it all, the lighthouse stands
illuminating within bands
of light this silent history
of struggles with the mighty sea.
A small breeze starts, a whispering,
a dirge that only oceans sing,
and soon the air is once more clear,
though I can feel the ghosts still near.
I sit upon the rocks and stare
out to the sea and wonder where
the lost souls seen now reside.
They ebb and flow like time and tide.
In time shadows in an old windy shed
are names of sojourners who've passed this way;
now my wandering boot does older tread
where I passed on a long forgotten day.
I see their faces on wall and jetty
drinking beer, watching the wind and tide turn,
where on horizon across a dark sea
aerodrome Air Squadron lights brightly burn.
Into its riptides we dived bombed its depths
where over the skyhawk war birds had flown,
and from its pull clung to those ocean steps
in the big drag of clays, sand and mudstone.
Now time and tide fade on this hidden cove
where beneath the waves the taniwha rove.
Written: December 1991
*taniwha in Maori folklore are sea creatures
depicted as serpents or dragons with fiery eyes.
On occasion I saw a few people swimming
there that fit that description but no serpents.
*Skyhawks were RNZAF combat fighter jets.
The ocean
have what you feel
allow it to change you
and the tide
with time
in every shade
of green and turquoise blue
automobile
Street lamps
billboard lights freezing
The heavy rain late night
sweeps away
an old man
he can't straighten his bent back
he takes a hard breath
white breath to the air
scatter
by his beside
covered their heads with summer clothes
A couple laughing out loud
It passes
cigarette smoke staying in the place
left behind.
“Time and tide wait for no man”, affirm the wise.
Everything should be done in the allotted time n’ space.
Like waves which wait for none, time will advance.
By staying idle, we may never get one more chance!
Each one is granted a fixed quantum of time.
Without notice, seconds pass with a silent chime.
Those who handle time without enough caution,
May later come to regret and land in perdition.
As the moving pendulum of time swings,
Each day, to infinity, steadily wings.
Time is like a diminishing bank account.
Nothing can be added to the existing amount.
Time wasted should be our greatest regret.
It is precious and irredeemable, never forget.
Before infirmities set in, earn what you can,
For life here has only a short stretch and span!
Feb.5.2023
Proverbial Poetry Contest
Sponsor- Margarita Lillico
Tempest fugit and all of that,
The blink of an eye, and life is gone;
Little things to do cause the days to pass;
Future is meditation, work is done.
The last learning curve to be at peace,
Making room for what once were diversions,
Reading, writing, TV, and pleasing food.
Accepting, accepting, each new pain
With God's Grace.
If I should die,think only this of me
That one small corner of the web
Nurses all of my poetry
My Muse's tide is on the ebb
Her waning strength sadly faded
No reason now for any rhyme
My talents fully spent and jaded
No one can hold back marching time
So please forgive my puny tries
Which deserve but piteous sighs
I thought that I should never be
as old as folks as old as me,
for in my youth the time of day
moved so much slower on its way.
But youth can be a wondrous thing
that hides the truth of living’s sting,
that birth must surely lead to death
from babe’s first cry to final breath.
For time flows past at different rate
it never ever stops to wait,
however time decides to go
mankind must follow fast or slow.
Of course when measured on the clock
the time when tide will wash each rock
can be defined specifically,
but time defies this guarantee.
The speed of youth makes time go slow
as youngsters race to stem its flow.
Slow pace of age can speed time’s drift
as with our memories we shift.
So tide and time I fear my friends
are never constant in their trends,
you’ll find as you meet each new day
a little time has slipped away!
Ivor G Davies
Standing on the beach looking out at the water,
I had a moment of reflection of all that matters.
I realized that waves, the rhythm of ebbs and flows,
Are very much like the people in our lives.
The movement of the water, the relationship with time and tides,
Time and tides together making the difference in the strength of waves.
Time and the people in our lives, the relationships that enter into our world like the ebb of tides, often leave us like the flow, wondering if this is a test of ones own endurance, often leaving us feeling in some cases with little to no reassurance.
Natures beauty on the horizon as the sun sets and colors so majestic, bring you around to the understanding that nature, time, ebbs and flows are Gods rythmic clock reminding us to move forward.
Time nor tide will wait for us.
TIME AND TIDE
Starlit world is still
Cooling from the day.
Waiting, nest-bound, for the dawn,
Tweetling birds are silenced by the moon.
Lights are dimming o’er each window sill;
Boats are tied tight in low-tide bay:
And Mother Nature takes a yawn -
Time for rising again will come soon.
Time and Tide
On the blooming horizons of my mind
The wine of your love and beauty,
Splashes its flavor, on my lips and life
Sometimes you quench my thirst, O love
By becoming my Sunlight or a candle light,
Which burns,to remove the darkness of night.
Sometimes you take away the flames of heat,
When you spread the wings of your coolness on my life.
How mysterious is the game of life, O love
The intoxicating wine of youth, beauty and love,
Always sweeps away our senses to an extent,
That we began to float on the winds of time and tide.
Knowing very well that time gone by
Will never return us except in our memories
The glory of those wonderful moments.
Ravindra
Kanpur India 13th June 2011.
NOTE:
Please excuse me, if you find some delay in receiving your comment's reply.
Sometimes, it seems, we wait for our dreams
we wait a bit too long.
Our childish dreams are the fount of schemes
though they maybe waylaid along.
We read of mighty Hercules and Odysseus on the sea
for they rush to sirens song.
We wait, and wait at unopened gates, until our psyche screams
your life must soon be born.
The Great Wall called, but I was too late, it seems
perhaps, I got it wrong?
The grandeur had left in shrouded seams
as we bore and birthed the throng.
The pyramids, the stone, the sand, the Kings, the royal themes
ravaged by man and time forlorn.
So, do not wait, at that gate, follow your childish dreams
for St. Peter waits at another gate when Gabrielle blows his horn!
. . . for both low and great,
for no one, time and tide wait,
passing through life's gate . . .
Time and tide wait for no man
If a thing must be done, then do it
Nature waits for no one
It will not suffer human wit
Nor patiently stall till fears do quit
Nor wring it's hands, till man takes a stand
Nothing in Nature needs man
It is man who is only a cog
As he marches through creation in a fog
History is ripe with God's other creatures
Some who are gone were even main features
But now they are only a lonely asterisk
In the big book of Nature
Before that apple falls from the tree, then pluck it
If you hesitate your prize is sour
You must act and jump at the perfect hour
Or else your moment falls to Earth
Gone and dried of little worth
Who is it that can see, so perfectly
Only the God's who guide us through life's ocean
As we seek to untangle human emotion