Ocean Opine or Reasons I Love the Ocean

Because briny breeze beguiles, bringing

me closer to the primal, to perpetuity,

olfactory memories triggering childhood beach trips --

of salty sea, sandy shore.

Because tides, incoming, outgoing

beckon unendingly in breaking

waves and frothy-white tops, prisms

reflecting passion, potential, prompting poetry.

Because sea salt plumps, reddens lips,

scratchy sand squishes under soles, ‘twixt

toes, reminders to stay present

even in an uncertain world.

Because shells ornamenting shore were so much more.

Then seafaring, safekeeping armor of mollusks, clams,

now soldier souls scattered on silvery sand,

proof of life’s impermanence.

Because steam ships, sailing ships dotting

the distance carry me to far-flung

locales and far-off lands, if only in my mind,

proving the majesty of the sea I see.

Because visiting the ocean is a

homecoming, and I am most myself,

uninhibited even in suit too snug, skin too

red, and hair too wild for more civilized grandeur.