Poem: On the Beach
An unexpected beach encounter inspires Roslyn White’s contribution for this week’s Poet’s Corner.
On the Beach
An interruption whilst on a silent retreat,
Queenscliff, Victoria, October 2017.
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I encountered death upon the beach
quite unexpected
on the smoothness of the sand
beneath the blueness of the sky.
A goodly snapper surfed its way
horizontally through lace of foam
eyed keenly by the birds
mostly kept at bay by tidal pull.
In time an elderly woman and her dogs
paused in their stroll along the beach
and picked it up.
She showed me how to tell that it was fresh
by looking at the eye sand down
not pecked by one persistent seagull
and admired with me the gorgeous colours of its scales.
Home she went
trailed by delighted satisfaction and her dogs.
Not quite as large as the last one though, she said,
but good for dinner.
Roslyn White lives in Victoria. She is a wife, mother, grandmother and spiritual director who has recently discovered the joy of poetry and the power of the spoken and written word, in addition to her joy of word in song.