heartbeat

some days we seem so included in our surroundings...

…heartbeat…

 

a fierce wind blows today

its howl heard in the flues of the chimney

above the whine of saws…

the banging of hammers…

the swish of the broom…

or the “shee-pop” of the pneumatic nailers

as the house  we build

receives its new clothes…

like life…every day our work nears its end

when we will have to leave this lovely place…

work is work…

but where we work...

…ahhh…

what a difference…

proudly on a promontory this house stands …

a defiant granite “stick in the eye”

to ocean on one side…estuary on the other

water…water everywhere

and what a place to think…

the day is bright with blue skies…

cotton candy cloud tempt as they pass by…driven with the wind…

I daydream that I pluck them from the sky and eat…

my hands and lips sticky with their cloying sweetness…

the wind roils up the water…whitecaps sparkle

atop a bed of brilliant boisterous blue-green…

the heartbeat of the sea is felt with each wave that

crashes on the sand…

the pulse of earth surrounds me…

we work…we build…invest our time

building this place…

…this haven…

 that will one day

succumb to the pounding surf…

indeed…this home and the ground in sits upon…

will yield to sea’s unrelenting insistence…

one day gentle…

another fierce…

one day cajoling…

another demanding…with bellicose intent…

…our love…

…our respect…

…our fear…

we build as close as we dare…

we rush to the waters edge…

to feel it lap at our bare toes…

feel its chill-cold fingers try to tug our swimsuits to our ankles…

what is it that about the sea

that calms our soul

and puts off fretting to another day?...

I  do not know…

but the frenetic sounds of industry around me

fade to silence…

and I and my tools dance to the

tempo of the soothing surf…

 

 

Reviews

[FlawedByDesign]

This poem is truly a postcard for serenity, even with all the "frenetic sounds of industry". I can relate the title to the poem, but I feel that it did not give me a big enough insight into the story and pictures behind the write.
The focus on the sea and it's calming qualities is a great one. I think the inclusion of the work and house building, is a clever one. Comes across as building private beauty in a naturally beauteous place.
Maybe we don't belong there.

[linton]

Nice poem. I like the part about the sea "calms my soul." Brings me to a better place.