Sea Fever

Maybe it was something I dreamt, or some single thought that came to me as I woke, or maybe it was a sound or some scent that made me wake with a deep longing to be at the ocean. Perhaps this feeling is born of the desire for a cool ocean breeze or a dip in water so cold it turns you legs blue in no time at all. The Texas heat has been intense. 105 yesterday with more temperatures like that for days to come. Relentless heat. People are dragging, tired and worn out.
Growing up, I never would have imagined that someday I would live hours and hours away from the ocean, my family had been coastal folk for as far back as we can go in our genealogy, and that is pretty far back. Even before my ancestors came on the Mayflower. My grandmother grew up along Noel Shore in Nova Scotia. Her uncles sea captains and ship builders. The sea is in my blood. I grew up just a bit more than 5 miles from the ocean.
Emery and I had our first date at Kelly's Roast Beef at Revere Beach, sitting on the sea wall, feeding sea gulls and starting a conversation that has been without end.
I simply miss the ocean today.

John Masefield has said it all for me in one of my all time favorite poems....

"Sea-Fever"

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,

And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,

And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,

And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide

Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;

And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,

And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,

To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;

And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover

And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

By John Masefield

(1878-1967).

(English Poet Laureate, 1930-1967.)

Photos taken at York Maine, 2006