The Masterworks Series: By the Seashore

By the Seashore

In my mind

She will always be that young –

The way she was that day by the seashore

When we made our brief acquaintance.

I was a bit ragged

After two days of sail mending

So that her brother could launch his schooner

On the bay.

It was a lovely sight

But I was weary of mending.

She spoke so kindly,

Though she did not have to look my way.

I found myself telling her my weary tale

That should have been no concern of hers.

“I know about mending,”

She said.

“It is like this lace with my crochet needle;

It never ends.

It may be a sleeve that is frayed,

Or a life becoming stretched.

There is someone who can mend that

If you look around.”

“You mended my brother’s sail.

I’m making lace to mend Mum’s tablecloth.

The sea mends the ragged shore.

Sit with me here for a while if you will.

Let the wind and the waves

Mend you tired mind.”

So I sat for a while

And calmed my mind
As the waves pounded the rocks
And pools gathered near our feet.

By the time I parted from her that day,
I knew where to find my mending.

I never grow tired of the sight –

The foam and the waves upon the sea, 

Nor weary of the sound – 

Wind and water at the ocean's edge.

I still see her sometimes

When I watch the waves,

The lovely lady in blue and lace,

Grateful even now

For that day by the seashore.

                                     ~ CK

__________________________________
Image: By the Seashore, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Artist: Auguste Renoir (French,1841–1919)
Date: 1883
Medium: Oil on canvas

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