Wednesday, May 4, 2022

Atlantic, North and South

 The water is often still here.

The same ocean, yet she has changed her clothes several times

Since I last saw her.


She was sassier then, chilly and wild with waves worn

Around her shoulders like cotton batting.


Here, she seems deceptively softer, smoother, warmer to the touch.


But do not anger the ocean goddess of the south. 

She will roil and spill onto your safety -- 

A howling spurned mistress

Churning until all her rage is spent.


Her northern self is steely and controlled -- 

Her voice still so familiar in my ear that she almost tricks me into believing,

"Oh, it's you! You followed me here to keep me company, 

still singing the sea song from my earliest remembering."


In the north, she pulls no punches, tells no lies

Offers solace to the island dwellers.


Here, in the south, she is Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde

Lulling me into a haze, until the moon is full and the offshore winds whip her

Into a frenzy.


Once, I thought I knew her allure.

Now, I am not so sure.




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