By the Sea

 

By The Sea

I started early, took my dog,
And visited the sea;
The mermaids in the basement
Came out to look at me.

And frigates in the upper floor
Extended hempen hands,
Presuming me to be a mouse
Aground, upon the sands.

But no man moved me till the tide
Went past my simple shoe,
And past my apron and my belt,
And past my bodice too,

And made as he would eat me up
As wholly as a dew
Upon a dandelion's sleeve —
And then I started too.

And he — he followed close behind;
I felt his silver heel
Upon my ankle, — then my shoes
Would overflow with pearl.

Until we met the solid town,
No man he seemed to know;
And bowing with a mighty look
At me, the sea withdrew.

Emily Dickinson

https://allpoetry.com/By-the-Sea

As we have lived beside the sea for all our retirement years so far, with a constant view of the English Channel, this charming Emily Dickinson poem seems a must.  It is yet another one I would have loved to have written.  The sea is very inspiring, but I haven't really written poems for years, apart from trying (and failing) to hitch my thoughts into a Haiku.  The beauty of the Indian Ocean was of course one of the inspirations for Waiting for Gordo.  Anyway, I hope to find one of Captain B's sea photos to head this blog.

This one is of the dramatic and lovely Northumberland coast, where some friends of our from our Uni days used to live.

Having expected to wait two weeks for the results of my diabetes eye test, the results actually came in two days - last Friday morning to be exact!   And all is fine.  Any good health news is a rare treasure these days. And it makes me feel that I am sticking well enough to my new way of eating. I do still have my little treats - for example I have a mini choc ice every day - but maybe as long as they stay little treats, it will be ok.

What will perfect health be like?  It is something we, the damaged children of Adam, have never yet known.  But we can hope to, under the loving and perfect rule of the Kingdom of God.

One thing I think about is having energy again - lots and lots. And nothing hurting.  And just at the moment, everything is hurting squared in the wake of my day at Haysbridge - especially my one good shoulder, which is worrying - even though the seating is comfortable, and I am glad I went.  

As I said in a previous blog, this has made me want to get back to the one-day assemblies, but I must make slightly different seating arrangements, via the Room for the Disabled, as I think it was the struggle to get in and out of my seat that has done for me. I do not want to go through this pain again. Also I am anxious in case my one good shoulder does not come back on-line. I have been reminding myself that at my age - late seventies - I should be grateful to still be here.  Because, at the moment, as I said to the nice nurse at the Eye Clinic when she asked me how I was:  "I am past my sell-by date, and feeling it."

The news is so awful, it is often best not to think or read beyond the headlines.  Yet more young man have been stabbed to death on our streets.  The Middle East seems to be going up in flames.  Though prophecy in the Book of Daniel, which covered both world wars assures us there will not be another one. Which is logical as surely if the superpowers go to war again throwing everything they have at each other - which would include chemical and biological weapons as well as nuclear - the earth will be ruined.

And Jehovah assures us, in the Book of Revelation, that He will "bring to ruin those ruining the earth".  And for sure it would be somewhat difficult for "the meek" to inherit the earth and "live forever upon it", as the Bible promises, if it had been ruined!