Try again!

I'm ready to try this blog again, mainly because I want a place to put my poetry. Here's a poem I found in longhand the other day -- written a few months ago.

I’m Afraid of the Ocean/ after Hurricane Sandy

When I was young we lived inland

and sometimes for a day

We’d take a drive out to the ocean

Just to get away

And one time I remember now

I must have been near ten

I went out in an inner tube

To ride the waves and then

I floated on a rolling hill

Before the foaming break

And on across another

Before seeing my mistake:

Between the tube’s flotation

Trapped inside its buoyancy

I saw that I was drifting fast

Out to the open sea.

There were no other swimmers

Anywhere within my reach

And far away the figures

Of my parents on the beach

A lifeguard stood beside them

As though trying to decide

Whether he ought to rescue me

And swim into the tide.

And all around the water swelled

Unbroken waves of black

And suddenly I realized

I might not make it back

I ducked out of the tube and swam

As hard as I knew how

And though I made it back the fear

Has lasted until now.

I’d never live upon the shore

The ocean’s not for me

Because I’ve felt the menace

In the ancient line of sea –

All this is just a prelude

To the story of the day

How many cottages and lives

The water swept away

Some people had been living

In their little homes for years

And they had weathered many storms

And brushed away all fears

Each morning they would take the dogs

To walk along the beach

In the familiar neighborhood

No need to use a leash

They would enjoy the ocean air

The dogs would get a run

They’d live out their retirement here

The years of work all done.

And so, not listening to advice

That they evacuate

They thought the hurricane would pass

And hunkered down to wait.

But on that night the water rose

The wind was blowing hard

And then they saw the ocean come

Right up into their yard.

It wasn’t even like a wave

But more a moving wall –

One moment it was on the porch

And then was in the hall

And then they knew it was too late

They couldn’t get away

And neither they nor all their pets

Would live to see the day.

The life that seemed so safe was drowned

Beneath the water black,

And though the tide has turned away

Someday it will come back

There is no moral to this tale

No lesson here to learn

Except some people lost their lives

And never will return.

They wouldn’t leave their precious homes

Their lives they couldn’t save –

They heard the ocean’s siren song

And sank beneath the wave.