I was sitting in my car at the long bank line yesterday…
(Outside temp 45, pouring rain)
When I noticed something odd.
No, not that it was friggin’ cold for spring…
But an electrical line full of birds.
And even that isn’t odd in and of itself.
There were some grackles, a few pigeons and…
A seagull.
Hmm? It just seemed odd for a web-footed sea bird…
To be perched up on a line.
But a bigger “hmm?” to me is…
Why do some gulls come inland anyway…
And hang around seas of asphalt?
So I Googled it.
Seems they’re scavengers…
And like to eat rodents.
Guess they’re a good thing in grocery store lots…
And garbage dump sites.
But is that why they came inland in the first place?
And that made me remember when I came inland.
I moved from Long Island as a teenager…
With my parents to Toledo…
It was not only a culture shock. . .
But a water shock.
Sorry, Lake Erie. I like salt water.
Suddenly, John Masefield’s poem, “Sea-Fever” came to mind.
It's one of my favorites…
I relate to his poem...
And specifically to this stanza:
I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
And one day, I will live by the salty sea again.
1 comment:
I used to live by Lake Ontario and, although not the sea, the water made the land fresh. Now I live in the big sky prairie's where lakes are not really lakes, if you know what I mean. I too relate to Masefield's poem; "a clear call that may not be denied." Beautiful.
Post a Comment