By AWeith – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51548911
kelp marries the tidal dance between the skerries
torridonian sandstone and sweet yellow gorse set in
orcadian cobalt blue skies with nae a cloud to be seen
stillness roars and you feel yourself expanded
magic trembles you a body shiver and you breathe
the deepest of breaths flowing into fullness of being
that long slow sigh escapes you like a beautiful wish
and a peace falls upon your countenance like rays from
the golden sunlit heaven that you occupy this blessed moment
tis a day for magic if you have only the eyes to see it
there the glistening ocean’s edge sings to your sensual soul
movement in the water draws your eye to the brown
mottled pattern of circle and spot and eyes as deep as
saucers of black ink beckoning to you to dive away in
gliding effortlessly and disappearing from sight but
not mind so you move over the craggy rock towards
the inlet only to be stopped by an explosion in your
own heart at the sight of the naked woman who will
be the end of you stepping from her seal-skin to walk
In human form and make a gentle mischief perhaps
lore tells she is yours if the skin you can take from her
and though her beauty causes an ache that echoes
you know that such loveliness belongs in the ocean
and your heart breaks there for the knowing of it
Day 21 of NaPoWriMo in The Garden where Brendan asks us to write of Mythical Creatures
Ah, nice!!! Kelp marries the tidal dance!
A wonderful write!!!
So beautiful a portrait you paint. So sad the knowledge that she must be left to the ocean. 🙂
The ancient story retold. A heartfelt thank you for a happy ending, for once, for both of them.
Sad she must be left to the ocean but fitting, I think. The selkies are best left to the ocean.
… and loved the roar of the silence. It can be like that.
Eyes deep as saucers of black ink… perfect!
Ah cousin. The composition of this — the sonorous particulars, the splash and sea-drift, stanzas centered, unpunctuated: to read is to dive into the fluid seal freedom, and what a joy. And that final stanza, what an absolute of the soul of the sea-song. Beautiful work. A MacOdrum kilt to you.
This is gorgeous!💜 Love the rhythmic flow to this poem and the tale which you have woven!💜
I’m watching Siren as we speak. This is perfect.
I’ve always loved the stories of the selkies. Your telling, with all that wonderful imagery evoking ocean and crags, is particularly beautiful.
“Tis a day for magic if you have only the eyes to see it”…..and then the Selkie appears. Wow! Love that closing line.
Love this… I can hear the sound of the ocean in your words. You cannot part such beauty from sea…
You picked one of my favourite myths, Paul, one I’ve written about several times and will always come back to. I love the sounds of the sea in ‘kelp’ and ‘skerries’, the ‘tidal dance’, and the use of colour, especially the gorse, another favourite of mine, and the oxymoron in ‘stillness roars’. The effects of magic are so beautifully conveyed.
My favourite lines are:
‘mottled pattern of circle and spot and eyes as deep as
saucers of black ink beckoning to you to dive away in’
and
‘…though her beauty causes an ache that echoes
you know that such loveliness belongs in the ocean
and your heart breaks there for the knowing of it’.
You weave a myth so beautifully, Paul. Love the acceptance, if sadness, at the end.