Friday, April 25, 2014

Sea, hear….


I can hear the ocean.

I sign “ocean” to the deaf child, he stands facing the immortal sea—his first time—he wanders through the surf, in wonder.

I want to tell him about the sound….
….no, many sounds:
muted roar like distant traffic,
a chaos of splashes, the sea bed murmuring,
sometimes not quite silent,
endless, returning rhythm of a great piston,
the chuffing of the gods’ machine....

From any aspect it surrounds, soothes….
a transfixing sound that starts new thoughts but never finishes them,
a garden of sounds, you stand among them and you feel it, somehow you grow.





My rudimentary signing fails me.
“The sound  is wonderful,” I say.
“I see,” he says.





September 15, 2010
Avon, NC, on the Outer Banks


No comments:

Post a Comment