Tag Archives: poem

Ode To Our Ocean

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This photo was taken at the beach on a spectacularly warm December afternoon. The sky was blue and the Pacific Ocean was full of sparkles; a magnificent day.

Photo by Enchanted Seashells

Ode To Our Ocean

The sea sings out to its many saviors:
Teenagers with fists thrust into the air at climate strikes,
Scientists converging around their data,
A child who stoops to scoop up a piece of trash.

The sea sings out for its singular subjects:
Arching whales that wave from their waves,
Turtles that teeter down their shining shores,
Coral reefs shining brightly as cities.

The sea sings out its suffering,
Knowing too much of waste, screeching sounds
And pernicious poison, its depths bruised by
Atrocities in the Atlantic,
Misery in the Mediterranean,
Its tides the preservers of time past.

The story of the ocean and the story of humanity
Are one and the same, a Great River that
Knows no borders and notes no lines,
Only ripples.
While we might call it the Seven Seas,
Today we sing out your true name:
The one ocean.
For no matter how we try to separate your waters,
You are the colossus that connects us.

Water makes up 70% of Earth,
70% of the human heart,
And 70% of the human being,
All of us, bodies of water,
For we, too are oceans,
Or at least beings bobbing in the same boat.
To stand up for for our ocean
Is to stand up for our own ship
The sea is a restless, strong collective of many pieces.
So are we.
The ocean can recover.
And so will we.
Let us not divide the tides,
But discover all they have to teach us–
Green meadows of sea grass that survive pathogens,
Blue-bloodied marine snails that can fight off viruses.
There are more lessons to learn,
Still more work to be done.
So we lift our faces to the sun.
May the seas help us see healing and hope,
May we sing out the ocean’s survival and revival.
Being the people of this blue planet is our most
Profound privilege and power,
For if we be the ocean’s saviors,
Then it is surely ours.

Written by Amanda Gorman for World Oceans Day. Harvard graduate Gorman is an American poet, activist, and model. Her work focuses on issues of oppression, feminism, race, and marginalization, as well as the African diaspora. Gorman was the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate.

Celebrate The Summer Solstice With a Mantra, Healing Chakras, and a Poem

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Today is the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, and it holds significant spiritual symbolism. It represents the triumph of light over darkness, new beginnings, and the peak of nature’s abundance. Here are three of my favorite things…

🌻 Summer Solstice Mantra:

Om Hrim Shivaya Namaha
This is a powerful invocation of Shiva (consciousness) and Shakti (energy). The bija sound “Hrim” amplifies the transformative power of Om Namah Shivaya, making it especially resonant at this sun-drenched turning point in the year.

🌻 Solar Plexus Chakra:

Another way to celebrate the summer solstice is to embrace our inner light by connecting with our solar plexus chakra. Awaken to and be aware of our inner radiance and true power.

The solar plexus chakra–Manipura–is where we derive our sense of self and personal autonomy. It’s our distinct source of personal power that allows us to live life freely and authentically. Associated with a bright yellow color, we can empower our solar plexus chakra by meditating and with yoga poses like the plank and variations of warrior, or any pose that focuses on our core strength.

🌻 Poem:

Summer Stars

Bend low again, night of summer stars.
So near you are, sky of summer stars,
So near, a long-arm man can pick off stars,
Pick off what he wants in the sky bowl,
So near you are, summer stars,
So near, strumming, strumming,
So lazy and hum-strumming.
–Carl Sandburg

Three Butterflies

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Art credit to Annie Stegg  

The people of this world are like the three butterflies in front of a candle’s flame.
The first one went closer and said: I know about love.
The second one touched the flame lightly with his wings and said:
I know how love’s fire can burn.
The third one threw himself into the heart of the flame and was consumed.
He alone knows what true love is.

Butterfly photo by Enchanted Seashells

The Lightness of You

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I wish that I could show you,
when you are lonely or in darkness,
the astonishing light of your own being. 
— Hafiz 

Photo by Hernan Pauccara on Pexels.com

May’s Full Flower Moon

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The Flower Moon reminds us that the most beautiful blossoms have deep roots — as this lunation is receiving a motivating push from subterranean planet Pluto, which could catalyze some deep emotional excavation. 

To honor this beautiful full moon, which the Lakota call “Moon Of The Green Leaves”, here are some of my favorite flower photos…

All photos by Enchanted Seashells

(Some content curated from Bustle)

May Day is Ah-MAY-Zing!

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Gather all the little children
With May flowers in their hair
For they shall dance
Around the maypole
For they shall dance
The day away

May Day blessings to all – A little May Day poem by Athey Thompson

For me, the month of May is the BEST not only because of Mother’s Day but it’s also my birthday month.

Last year Mother’s Day and my birthday fell on the same day. It’s an extra special treat for my two favorite days to be combined into one celebration.

The best known modern May Day traditions include dancing around the maypole and crowning the May Queen. Fading in popularity is the tradition of giving of “May baskets”, small baskets of candy or flowers. I think we should revive that adorable custom, don’t you?

Just in time for May Day, I found an adorable porcelain flower basket at Goodwill for about three dollars and I HAD to bring it home with me.

So far, this month started off in an ah-MAY-zing way.

Since it wasn’t a great video, I won’t post it, but THREE coyotes came to visit last night– THREE! — all together, and early this morning at first light, another coyote visit was captured on my wildlife camera. That’s NEVER happened before and I am soso excited.

The weather is warming up; all the fruit trees are flowering, the roses and ceanothus and lavender are in bloom, and baby birds are hatching.

Beltane, which takes also takes place on May 1st, is a celebration of the abundance of Earth and the forces of Nature. Bonfires are traditionally set to engender a sense of connection with ourselves and all living beings, but that wouldn’t be a smart thing to do in our wildfire ravaged state, so the flame from a safe candle must suffice.

Happy May Day and Happy Beltane!

A Little Magic

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Poem by Athey Thompson
Picture credit to Pinterest

Full Moon Energy | Stop and Breathe

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The full moon always disrupts my sleep. This full Beaver moon is giving me strange dreams, too, but I can only remember fragmented snippets, like my subconscious is rambling and formless; inchoate. This is my signal to spend time in nature, whether it’s the forest, the beach, or my garden.

And she stopped…and she heard what the trees said to her,
And she sat there for hours not wanting to leave,
For the forest said nothing, it just let her breathe.
~ Becky Hemsley

Tales of Brave Ulysses

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We finally had rain AND thunder! In the middle of a downpour, I absolutely forgot how to turn on my windshield wipers. I had to pull over and search for the owner’s manual to figure it out. That’s exactly how long it’s been since we had sky water! From last night to this morning, there was more than an inch of rain. More is on the way.

For some reason, it seems like a Cream kind of day, and I can’t exactly explain why I feel like this…

Ulysses, also known as Odysseus, is a character of Greek mythology. Homer wrote The Odyssey about Odysseus, king of Ithaca, who wanders for ten years (although the action of the poem covers only the final six weeks) trying to get home after the Trojan War.

When the original Angel Boy was young enough for nightly bedtime stories, we read The Odyssey to him (truth!) and think, in some small way, that it helped to encourage his professorial and writing talents.

Tales of Brave Ulysses

You thought the leaden winter
Would bring you down forever
But you rode upon a steamer
To the violence of the sun

And the colours of the sea
Bind your eyes with trembling mermaids
And you touch the distant beaches
With tales of brave Ulysses
How his naked ears were tortured
By the sirens sweetly singing
For the sparkling waves are calling you
To kiss their white laced lips

And you see a girl’s brown body
Dancing through the turquoise
And her footprints make you follow
Where the sky loves the sea
And when your fingers find her
She drowns you in her body
Carving deep blue ripples
In the tissues of your mind

Tiny purple fishes
Run laughing through your fingers
And you want to take her with you
To the hard land of the winter

Her name is Aphrodite
And she rides a crimson shell
And you know you cannot leave her
For you touched the distant sands
With tales of brave Ulysses
How his naked ears were tortured
By the sirens sweetly singing

Tiny purple fishes
Run laughing through your fingers
And you want to take her with you
To the hard land of the winter

Background: The lyrics are inspired by Homer’s Odyssey, an account of the adventures undertaken by Ulysses. This can be seen in the song’s reference to “naked ears … tortured by the sirens sweetly singing,” an event from Homer’s epic. When interviewed on the episode of the VH1 show, Classic Albums, which featured Disraeli Gears, lyricist Martin Sharp explained that he had recently returned from Ibiza, which was the source of many of the images in the song (e.g. “tiny purple fishes run laughing through her fingers”) and the general feeling of having left an idyll to return to “the hard lands of the winter” https://www.lyricinterpretations.com/cream/tales-of-brave-ulysses

A live version…

RIP Lolita

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Heaving mountain in the sea,
Whale, I heard you
Grieving.
Great whale crying for your life,
Crying for your kind…

Song of the Whale — Kit Wright

The last surviving orca of the infamous Penn Cove captures of 1970 is dead.

Lolita is dead. In my opinion, she was murdered; a long, slow, painful death.

When will humans stop abusing other living creatures for MONEY?

The blood is on your hands, Miami Seaquarium.

Earlier this year, the Seaquarium announced plans to return Lolita back to the the waters of the Pacific where she could spend her final days. The decision came after years of pressure from animal rights groups to allow the aging orca to spend her final days swimming freely in her natural habitat.

But months later, Lolita remained at the aquarium. The Dolphin Company, which owns
the Seaquarium,  said that the orca would be relocated sometime between October 2024 and April 2025. (NPR)

I can’t even verbalize how angry I am at the humans who did this to Lolita. She was so close to finally being reunited with her family and experiencing freedom.

What makes me even more outraged are the ignorant comments on the aquarium’s website, thanking them for “loving” this orca, and how beautiful it was to see her. IT WAS NOT BEAUTIFUL. It was a total and complete travesty. So very wrong.

Lolita (also known as Tokitae), the most famous orca in captivity, and the subject of a decades-long, global movement to retire her to a seaside sanctuary, has died at Miami Seaquarium. While reports of her deteriorating health have peppered the media over the last several months, this is no easy news to accept.

The Seaquarium stated that during the past two days, Lolita “…started exhibiting serious signs of discomfort.” The aquarium went on to say that while her medical team began treating her condition, “…she passed away Friday afternoon from what is believed to be a renal condition.”

“There is something inherently obscene about a magnificent creature such as Lolita dying in a concrete STADIUM. This is going to continue until people stop buying tickets. There is no other way.” ~ Ric O’Barry, Founder/Director of Dolphin Project

On August 8, 1970 at approximately four years old, Lolita was captured from the waters of Penn Cove, in the state of Washington. It was a violent capture, where five whales drowned, including four babies. This young member of the L pod of the Southern Resident killer whales was sold to Miami Seaquarium, a marine park located on Biscayne Bay, in Miami, Florida for $20,000 and in the following month, was shipped across the country to her new home.

Her “home” would be a concrete tank, known as the “Whale Bowl”. Another orca at the facility, Hugo, would eventually be moved into the tank alongside Lolita, where they performed their daily routines. For ten years, the two orcas shared the Seaquarium’s spotlight. Despite mating, no offspring was produced.
(Curated from dolphinproject.com)

While Lolita may never experience the freedom she deserved, her legacy will continue to inspire us to push for a world where animals are treated with compassion and respect. Her story will forever remind us of the urgent need to protect our oceans and the magnificent creatures that call them home.https://www.savelolita.org/

There isn’t one single word to describe the unspeakable wrongs that were done to Lolita for fifty years, but I can think of a few…repugnant, vile, abusive.

Lolita should be swimming with her family in Puget Sound. On behalf of the human race, I’m so very sorry.