From This Great Lithic Shore
(A Muse of Coastal Fog)
From this great lithic shore,
Vast sediments of glacial seas
Pounded strict and sheer to
Vital conformation.I give no order to this place.
Grayish, mute fog seethes;
The cold distracts the details
from my field of view.
I am the moistening of crevices,
The attrition of stone,
The backward tumbling to the warm fluid.From this living shore,
Fleeting sentiment sets with fog and sun,
Dark veil dishevelled by flamed orbit
In ceaseless, essential contrast.I think, what more am I than
Lithic sludge held to brighter flame,
Than backwashed swirl of grander tide,
With sudden bloom and sense?
How this form clings to rock and sea!
How essential this need to feel
The cold, liquid, cliff-seep, tide!From this lonely shore,
Vast retreats of sentient strata
Erode my fragile perch.
- b g marcot