young sea

I highly recommend living by the coast. The sea never fails to fascinate. One evening it is a iridescent jewel of sapphire blues and lapis lazuli (I just love that word!). Another afternoon, sun and sea blend in a blank grey canvas. One day it is calm and gentle, the next a raging rolling nightmare.

YOUNG SEA (Carl Sandburg)

THE sea is never still.
It pounds on the shore
Restless as a young heart,
Hunting.

The sea speaks
And only the stormy hearts
Know what it says:
It is the face
of a rough mother speaking.

The sea is young.
One storm cleans all the hoar
And loosens the age of it.
I hear it laughing, reckless.

They love the sea,
Men who ride on it
And know they will die
Under the salt of it

Let only the young come,
Says the sea.

Let them kiss my face
And hear me.
I am the last word
And I tell
Where storms and stars come from.