.
She saw its glories then, the sea's glories,
through her eyes, the girls
running to the sea with their glancing eyes,
the sea was in the noise the girls made,
made constant cry, caused constantly a cry,
heard by the girls standing off from it, seeing it,
it was she and not the sea the sea heard,
hearing itself in her words,
in her words, running into the sea.
The other girls heard and were stirred.
Whose spirit is this? they said, because they knew
it was the spirit they sought and knew there in the sea.
Who is it that is singing? they asked the sea.
through her eyes, the girls
running to the sea with their glancing eyes,
the sea was in the noise the girls made,
made constant cry, caused constantly a cry,
heard by the girls standing off from it, seeing it,
it was she and not the sea the sea heard,
hearing itself in her words,
in her words, running into the sea.
The other girls heard and were stirred.
Whose spirit is this? they said, because they knew
it was the spirit they sought and knew there in the sea.
Who is it that is singing? they asked the sea.
A cool dip at the beach, Warnemünde, Rostock, Baltic Sea: photo by Joachim Spremberg, 1975 (Deutsches Bundesarchiv)
Bathers in the Baltic Sea: photographer unknown, 1929 (Deutsches Bundesarchiv)
Bathers in the Baltic Sea: photographer unknown, 1929 (Deutsches Bundesarchiv)
This embraced the rhythm of the waves. And this is stuck in my brain: "the sea was in the noise the girls made"
ReplyDeleteAhhh... the sea... It fills my soul.
ReplyDeleteSomething tells me it may have been to stick in people's brains and fill their souls that these girls came down to the sea.
ReplyDeleteBut ah, I also suspect those virtual Baltic shivers may be making the girls wish to leapfrog over the reality of things.
They seem to make imagining a summer's day by the sea, from a winter's distance, look, or sound, all too easy, like everything good on earth.
Tom,
ReplyDeleteI left you a comment yesterday (somehow didn't get 'published') that went something like this: "thanks for your genius in showing us such things as we see here -- manta ray and angel fish and girls singing in the Baltic Sea. Here is something else to see . . . .
1.30
pale orange line of cloud above shadowed
ridge, red-tailed hawk calling on branch
in foreground, sound of waves in channel
a matter of extent in space,
with respect to space
line at three points, point
constant, of interval
grey-white sky on horizon next to point,
shadowed canyon of ridge across from it
And here, today, it seems, another something. . . .
1.31
first grey light in clouds above blackness
of ridge, white edge of moon below branch
in foreground, sound of waves in channel
compact, a shadow on object
not obstructing light
it seems, tension, explicit
physicality of sketch
sunlit cloud in pale blue sky on horizon,
tree-lined green of ridge across from it
Thank you Steve, for this bracing brace.
ReplyDeleteI too have composed exquisite comments and then left without publishing. No doubt happily for everyone. But later the fading memory of them briefly tantalizes. And then they are completely gone.(This is the weirdest medium!)
For your red-tailed hawk I will offer you this Dürer Blue Roller.
disconnect:
ReplyDeletethe photos don't match the
words
in the water the girls
are barely wet
nobody is swimming
the water is cold
and
Wernemunde quite
clean