.
Courseulles sur Mer, Normandie -- ressac sur la plage: photo by Daniel Plazanet, 3 February 2007
The wind in the large
trees...ignorant...in
nocent of all harm
blue waves of rain
flail the sea
trees...ignorant...in
nocent of all harm
blue waves of rain
flail the sea
Saint Malo, Bretagne: photo by Daniel Plazanet, February 2007
moving
ReplyDeletein-
escapable
in
credible
evidence
(of the thing in question)
Tom,
ReplyDeleteYes indeed (here too, in fact) ---
10.6
grey white rain cloud against invisible
top of ridge, drops falling onto bricks
in foreground, sound of wave in channel
carried forward this moment,
in which it before it
apart from “practical” work,
reflects, “objective”
silver of sunlight reflected in channel,
sunlit cloud in blue of sky above point
nocent of all harm
ReplyDeleteWhat an as-a-matter-of-fact ending. At the same time I find it very liberating!
Vazabam,
That is such a great comment.
This is really superb. Thanks for the poem and the pictures. We'll be seeing Chatham in Cape Cod this weekend. We're driving there for our 13th reunion of the "Wuhan 6," the name someone gave to our China adoption group in 1998. I'm very much looking forward to the ocean and I'm pleased to have had this preview. Online Webster's Dictionary just asked me why is was looking up "nocent." I gave them your name and the reference to "In." Curtis
ReplyDeleteWhat made you want to look up nocent? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
ReplyDeleteI must say I like this feature ("Hobbes, Leviathan", said one person).
An evocative poem, Tom. Very nice to be inside, but I think I'll go out again. I love the wind in the sunshine.
Artur.
Tom Clark,
ReplyDeleteI do love checking out what you've posted each new day. For some reason this one put me immediately in mind of Whitman's "I swear I will never mention love or death inside a house...."
A faithful reader (in pixels & print),
David Graham
Que Nocent, Docent. If the shoe pinches, one must be learning something.
ReplyDelete(Get bigger shoes.)
(But never wear them when mentioning love or death inside a house.. tiptoes and whispers for that. Sssh, there, Leviathan.)
Downpours, nocency -- the in
escapable
grey white rain cloud
carried forward this moment...
Nocent (causing injury, harmful) seems to have been common as far down the tree as Late Middle English, when calling something hurtful by its proper name seems to have gone on at least as frequently as flattering it and hoping for improvement. A guilty person (1447), a criminal (1566): blatant examples of the nocent walking among the (well, relatively) innocent. Latin noxa, harm; Greek nekus, a corpse; stem words beginning nek and nex having to do with destruction, perishing; harking back to the Sanskrit naç, to be lost, disappear. A noxious word family from early doors, with all its noisome, ill-tempered, unkempt, scrappy little hobgoblin cousins -- Necromancy, Internecine, Pernicious, Obnoxious and Nuisance -- never far from the broken gate banging randomly in the historical lexical night.
While on words, I couldn't resist the sound of water on small rocks or pebbles in "ressac" (surf, undertow, from brisants, breakers) -- top photo attribution).
Ssssh...
As I recall Chelsea owed its name to chessil, or some such hoary onomatopoetic term for the sound of water lapping upon small stones.
Chelsea's sands were indeed legendary, Ben Johnson even introducing them as a figure for the countlessness of... well, shall we say kisses...in translating Catullus.
Or rather perhaps, bringing him home to dinner.
Many thanks for that, Tom.
ReplyDeleteArtur.
Oops, that's Quae Nocent, Docent.
ReplyDeleteWhat hurts, teaches.
Hmm.