RPO -- Rosemarie Rowley : The Sea Change

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Rosemarie Rowley (1942-)

The Sea Change

1Lost in the crenellations of the sea wave

2A shell, a limpet, hugs the graining sand

3Passive, quiet, with bent and covered head,

4Enduring all. Beneath the tough rim, blind.

5I take it in my hand, not grabbing, stroking,

6The tale of tumultuous and terrible seas

7Etched on its back, the ministry of water

8Leaving impressions where the heart had faltered.

9Your modest hum, your humble introversion,

10Denies at root the need for soul's exertion,

11My eye is clear, said this returning wraith,

12To make and trust, above all, live in faith.

13And hope that He who tamed the seas,

14Will conquer hell, until at last it freeze.

Notes

1] crenellations: crests, embattlements.

2] limpet: a open-shelled, rock-clinging mollusc.

11] eye: the uttermost point of the spiral of a shell (OED, "eye. 1," 22b).

14] As revised for this edition by the poet from "until at last it freezes" (1987).

Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Copyright © Rosemarie Rowley 2007. Not to be republished without permission of the poet.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.

Original text: Rosemarie Rowley, The Sea of Affliction (Dublin: Rowan Tree Press, 1987): 61.
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: 2007
Recent editing: 1:2007/3/20

Form: sonnet
Rhyme: abcdefghiijjkk

Other poems by Rosemarie Rowley