lay me down
on craggy rocks, where cedar and pine trees
veil the blue sky
let my bones be salted
by seagulls & shrunken dried by sun & clouds
i will float
not a lost map
nor a ghost from 18th century sunken ship
but to the vibrancy
of turquoise waves &
woodpecker's incessant tapping
on pine tree
Big Tub Harbour, Tobermory
Posted for dVerse Poets, OpenLinkNight, hosted by Mish. I just came back from my vacation in Tobermory, Ontario and some of the lines are taken from my time there. Thanks for the comments and visits.
What a way to go ... to "float" in "the vibrancy." Gorgeous sentiment, Grace.
ReplyDeleteOH this is so beautiful,Grace...and I could hear that incessant tapping that you just have to embrace. Tobermory is such a magical place.
ReplyDeleteThis is a gorgeous write. On my visits to the west coast I am always fascinated by the weathered bits of wood that are cast ashore. Your poem captures my thoughts as I gaze on them!
ReplyDeleteSuch a beautiful and haunting poem, Grace! You really carry us away to the atmosphere: It's nature where we go to when it's all over. You portray that with eloquence. This reads as a lament, or rather as a request where one wishes their ashes to be spread at after they pass. Just my interpretation and what I was imagining while reading this. I also really loved the final stanza. Always enjoy reading you, Grace, you write beautifully. <3
ReplyDeleteFabulous write. I love the extended metaphor. The sea taking us on throughout our time and beyond. It is exactly the correct length. There are no wasted words. Kudos!
ReplyDeleteThat is truly the way to go floating, no lost map. beautifully expressed.
ReplyDeleteLove the bit about the woodpecker ...
A beautiful write Grace, it could as easily describe the Tobermory we know and love here (on the Isle of Mull) xxx
ReplyDeleteYou make the loss and the loneliness, but also the beauty, vivid here.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you've made up your mind for your resting place, with the peace of water and presence of nature close by. Your photo shows it to be just such a place.
ReplyDeleteA floating beach bleached bone. I am watching it bob.
ReplyDeleteFloating bones rather than sunken bones... I like that!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds so idyllic! I saw some of your photos on Instagram, what a truly beautiful place. It must have been hard to leave!
ReplyDeleteTo be one with nature......
ReplyDeletewonderful waves...my wish as well
ReplyDelete"let my bones be salted
ReplyDeleteby seagulls"
Love this!
My wish as well ... mountains, rocky coast, rushing stream ... I had not considered the woodpecker. I thoroughly enjoyed this, Grace.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if my other comment went through but I really loved the opening here!
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed this.
ReplyDeleteThe shoreline and landscape of Bruce Peninsula reminds me of Maine. I made many trips to Tobermory in the 1980s-90s for wreck diving, including an ice dive to the Sweepstakes. (I even spent time in the hyperbaric chamber there, as part of an advanced certification.)
A vivid picture, Grace, smells of the sea!
ReplyDeleteJIM