The parking lot teems with canopies,
surging currents flooding
over voices animated with greeting
as we totter across the channel, picking
through boulders, broken concrete, dogs
in tow, luau feet wobbling unsteadily
on paddleboards, crescendos of laughter;
and off come capri pants, slippers exchanged
for swim fins, husband warnings growing distant
in ears focused on fitting mask and snorkel,
folding into Mother Ocean,
self-peripherals expanding wide
into the waning breadth of daylight;
I wish only for this weightless buoyancy,
blending bodies, earth and water,
chuffing dogs and children’s greetings;
How is it daily breath loses momentum
in the thrall of human error, tasks before me
brooking urgency of another sort, illusory
priorities trumping this, a reason for existing
in the maelstrom of the Collective’s worries;
Can one simply live unencumbered with banalities,
will these moments gather momentum, crowding
out the dark horizon of expectations driven onward
by the urgency of a life too short for reason?
bj photo: 2015-Mahukona, HI
Ah, sweet escape. 🙂
Indeed. Must do this more often. Actually did it for our old Lab as we hadn’t in awhlie. And I thought, jeez, time we did this more regularly. Swimming with that old dog has its own rhythm, and I miss it!
Lessons abound.
“…dark horizon of expectations”… lovely stuff! 🙂 thanks Bela! Great photo, too…
Mahalo, Stephen! This place is a gem most tourists know nothing about. And most residents of our community just love it. This particular shot was taken when the surf was ‘way’ up – I didn’t swim that day 😉 Aloha.
Beautiful picture Bela! Your words weave a vivid web of a life full of adventurous possibilities…a liberation of a different kind! Thanks for sharing lovely moments of joy. 🙂
Aloha, Balroop! Thanks as ever for coming by and taking time to comment. Yes, liberation of a different sort, for certain. It’s difficult for work-oriented people such as my husband and myself (and we Enjoy our work!) to simply put down whatever we are doing – leave our lovely yard gardens – and simply drive 15 minutes down the road to swim. And our old dog loves it so … Must do it more often! (my new mantra… !) <3
There’s a wonderful current of momentum here, Bela, an urgency, as if rushing through the worldly maze in some bid to find the centre, Eliot’s ‘still point’, that place of ‘weightless buoyancy’. I doubt we can ever escape the banalities – only the thoughts that make them so, perhaps . . . H <3
Aloha Hariod – I wrote you a long reply this morning, then my browser froze up and I had to call Apple and (finally, after months of trial and error on my own to fix it), got it fixed. Malware! As if people have nothing better to do than crash computers.
Yes, the thoughts that make them so … ah, yes. What I was saying is that my own thoughts are enough to be mindful of. However the sway of the American Collective right now has absolutely floored me beyond anything I could have anticipated witnessing in my lifetime. To be clearer, we have not had TV hookup in over 10 years. And we only subscribe to an island paper. Still, ‘the news’ spills into our quiet existence, jangling nerves at the sheer idiocy demonstrated by the masses and the national ignorance of global issues of a planet in crisis.
The kinds of ‘freedoms’ Americans treasure are apparently not the freedom to elect leaders (as this has been taken away by big corporate sponsors of candidates and SuperPacs) nor the freedom to inform ourselves fully before making decisions. Nor the freedom to educate our young without them bearing tremendous financial burdens. Instead, ‘we’ treasure the freedom to carry guns to college and bash anybody on the Internet we so choose. Frankly I feel surrounded by banalities and insults at every turn if I participate at all in group discussions or social media. And I do hate to be cynical. But I feel as though I can’t pull free from it, these days.
I’d like to believe I’m stronger than ‘all this.’ Quite frankly, my husband and I will survive, no matter the changes, for we have the grace and good fortune of choice, even the choice to leave the country. But I certainly would love instead to be part of the solution/s needed to bring things back into relative balance; part of the redemption of the Ugly American in the eyes of the world. And it’s a lot of work, but I’ve never been accused of laziness and have tremendous patience and optimism when set to task.
Anyhow dear one, I do ramble. Hoping you are having a lovely week, and sending you all my best. I so treasure ponderers such as your good self 😉 <3
“weightless buoyancy”… Oh to float in the ocean currents and allow ourselves the freedom to swim within the momentum of perfect moments amid children and animals.. Bliss..
Lovely Poem dear Bela.. you are excellent at capturing the moment.. Love and Hugs Sue
You know, Sue, we have lived on these islands for a dozen years, and I don’t think there are many days that go by we don’t both express our extreme good fortune and gratitude for living here. There are challenges, to be sure – Hawaii is one of the most expensive places to live – but we have found our niche and we do okay. We just need to remember to take time and enjoy the ocean, as we are surrounded by it (well, you would know, given where you live!). And ours is warm enough to swim in, year-round! Gosh, we do become forgetful …
Happy you enjoy my ‘captures,’ for they are truly inspired by a love for Mother Nature and all her blessings. Again, I know you feel very similar sentiments to mine with regards to this extraordinary life.
Peace and many blessings. Hugs and Aloha!
I do Bela.. Even more so since I retired.. To be able to get up each day and feed the birds.. Walk in the garden.. And grow food.. Taking in the simple pleasures this brings.. Even the constant rain, makes the land green, as I think of all the parched places in need of water..
I love the ocean.. Its approximately a hundred miles away so we do not go as often as I would like.. But when I do, the sea air rejuvenates the spirit and the coastal winds often are cool even in the summer blow the cobwebs away 🙂 Love and Blessings returned Bela xx