Poetry

The Harbor Seals

Have you read the myths of selkies come ashore?

Of seals that molt their skin and emerge in human form

To walk among men, in likeness?

Such creatures born of Celtic lore

And Norse oral tradition, bred through stories told and retold

Of their wanderings from the sea.

Their magic raiment, disguised as oiled, dark hair

Is their return fare to sparkling waters and though may be shed long

May not be lost, or ever shall they live on land, parted from the sea.

At winter’s end, the harbor seals return to the bay

And rest their bellies upon the timber pilings when the tide’s rise allows.

Crowds flock to the rocks along the bayfront to catch a glimpse,

Not bothering to look for pools of oiled, dark coats hidden in the crevices,

Their gazes fixed only upon the ripples in the water’s surface.

And so, the selkies wander freely here and walk about the land in day

And slip into their skin each night, returning home to the cool waters

When they’ve grown weary of the shore.

Health & Lifestyle

Sirena

This morning, it’s time to dust off those keyboard cobwebs and get some words down. Since my last post, the temperatures in our corner of New Jersey have been cooling on a slow simmer, seasoned with a pinch of chill and a splash of crispness. The daylight hours have a bluer tinge and grow more fleeting with late September’s progression. The trees have started pulling out a few of their fall colors from vacuum-sealed space bags in Mother Nature’s walk-in closet and the crowds no longer flock to the beaches down the shore.

When people think of the fall season, I assume many do not associate it with the beach. I, however, do, and am particularly excited to be reacquainted with fall at the shore this year.

Ever since my mom’s family starting renting the family shore house during the off season for the past I – lost – count – how – many years, I have been nostalgic for the empty beaches that result from the change in season, the expansive shoreline carpeted in cold sand, littered with the treasures of washed ashore sand dollars, backdropped by the dunes’ mountainous terrain, a fortress to hold back the salty tides during storms.

The shallows are warmest now, in early fall, after cooking under the hot sun throughout the summer months. Jelly salps dot the shoreline like sparkling, solid bubbles and the towel and umbrella colonies and impromptu nerf football games have vanished until Memorial Day Weekend. The crowds are gone and peace settles heavy on the sand, adjusting the arms of its Tommy Bahama beach chair until the back is at a comfortable angle.

And once fall is settled on the shore and summer put to rest in a storage bin with its corresponding seasonal items, it is time to allow the crash of the waves and whispering pull of the tide to echo as it reverberates off the dunes. It is time to let the sirenas’ sea song surround you, an intimate audience, in a fluid turned dissonant composition, mystifying and overwhelming in its power.