For most of my childhood and adolescence, I didn't live near an ocean - though summer vacations would often find us on the Gulf of Mexico at Panama City, Destin, and
Pensacola, Florida. I grew up, literally, on the banks of the Chattahoochee River,
separating Georgia from Alabama in my birthplace of Columbus, Georgia. Then,
I went away to nursing school at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, with another river
making its presence known - the mighty Mississippi.
I have always loved the ocean, though, and, from time to time, I would visit Miami
and see the Atlantic. My move to Boston gave me proximity to the New England
Atlantic coast. I headed west and found my home on the Pacific, sometimes only
a couple of miles walking distance from my house. I visited Hawaii and, then,
began cruising, seeing most of the major oceans and seas of the world. Now,
during my six months in India, I look out my bedroom window and see the
Arabian Sea.
Long ago, I wrote about about the sea:
The Sea
The sea has many faces,
And many different moods,
From violent raging tempests,
To lucid interludes.
It flows past frozen glaciers,
And laps on palm lined shores,
It touches the Antarctic,
And the Portuguese Azores.
In the depths beneath its surface,
Such beauty you can find,
Abundant wealth and bounty,
Sustenance for all mankind.
It shapes the land adjacent,
Taking years to leave its mark,
Sometimes gentle hills remain,
Or landscapes steep and stark.
The sound of the sea relaxes,
And it casts a magic spell,
It lulls and lures and soothes,
With each rolling, gentle swell.
With a vengeance, it can change,
And wreak destruction in its path,
As if Poseidon, angered,
Lets loose his fearful wrath!
The sea has many faces,
And many different moods,
From violent raging tempests,
To lucid interludes.
It flows past frozen glaciers,
And laps on palm lined shores,
It touches the Antarctic,
And the Portuguese Azores.
In the depths beneath its surface,
Such beauty you can find,
Abundant wealth and bounty,
Sustenance for all mankind.
It shapes the land adjacent,
Taking years to leave its mark,
Sometimes gentle hills remain,
Or landscapes steep and stark.
The sound of the sea relaxes,
And it casts a magic spell,
It lulls and lures and soothes,
With each rolling, gentle swell.
With a vengeance, it can change,
And wreak destruction in its path,
As if Poseidon, angered,
Lets loose his fearful wrath!
Carmen Henesy
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