Poetry

The Heart of the Sea

by Amy Deatherage

and then she lifted

her eyes

and saw the sun shining

she felt the rocks under

her feet

and the waves splashing

she heard the gulls

and smelled the salt

and the seaweed drying.

the joy to hear it

and feel it,

the freedom to explore it

and breathe it:

a calling.

the silenced longing of the small girl before her

drawn to the ocean in secret

awake.

this secret shared in the embrace

of two bodies,

this secret held in the knowing

of two hearts:

a returning.