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Meditations on the Sea

Deceptive waves pull and push, scattering shells, humbling humans with the ocean's vast, timeless power.

June 15, 2022

The sea abandons
shoals of shells
broken and unbroken
along the white wave line

Some sink sand-wards,
others drift wave-wards
a few smile sun-wards on the beach

At one time I battled the sea
grabbing shells he dared whisk away

I won fifteen times
He fifteen thousand
Till with warm wave caresses
he lulled mu efforts to peace

The wave that licks the shore
caressingly
will recede and return
in different combinations
of salt, sand, shell, wind and water

Wave follows wave
moment by moment
Tides take twelve hours to turn

The only way to know the ocean
is to know your smallness
More creatures swim
than drown in its belly

Anyone whoโ€™s tried to drown
knows the calmness
of the sea is
deceptive

When you try to go in
he washes you out
When you struggle to swim
he suckles you in

๐Ÿ“–
PART OF A COLLECTION

Meditations on the Sea and 1 other poem

View Full Collection โ†’

Meher Pestonji

Pallavi Padma-Uday is a writer, journalist and business historian based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. In 2021, she was recipient of a writing grant from Centre for Creative Practices in Ireland, supported by the Irish Arts Council, for her second poetry collection. Her first poetry collection ?Orisons in the dark? is forthcoming in 2022. She is an alumnus of London School of Economics and is currently researching the evolution of social capital in Indian business in the 20th century at Queen?s University Centre for Economic History in Belfast. She tweets at @ecnhistorienne.

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