a step / beyond the wind

Stones in the windblown sand, beach at the Ythan Estuary, outside Newburgh, Scotland, Nov. 2009

(from Roethke's A Field of Light, Part II)

Was it dust I was kissing?

A sigh came far.

Alone, I kissed the skin of a stone;

Marrow-soft, danced in the sand.

(Apparently this blog is becoming an illustrated guide to Theodore Roethke. His poems + the sea = comfort to me.)

(from Roethke's Words for the Wind, Part III)

Under a southern wind,
The birds and fishes move
North, in a single stream;
The sharp stars swing around;
I get a step beyond
The wind, and there I am,
I'm odd and full of love.

Wisdom, where is it found? --
Those who embrace, believe.
Whatever was, still is,
Says a song tied to a tree.
Below, on the ferny ground,
In rivery air, at ease,
I walk with my true love.

What time's my heart? I care.
I cherish what I have
Had of the temporal:
I am no longer young
But the winds and waters are;
What falls away will fall;
All things bring me to love.

Me & the wind & the sea, just beyond the Ythan Estuary, Nov. 2009