Majestic Paradox
The Epicurean Beachcomber
Those make all things i'th World ebb, and flow;
According as the moving Atomes go.
- Margaret (Lucas) Cavendish
I’ve walked round the world on this beach
Feet keeping beat with the waves - major discoveries made
the walk began rambunctious skipping
jumping castles chasing ghosts to their holes
Exploration exposed shells some inhabited – some not
Some plundered kept as marvels of creation
On the bedside table their Fibonacci essence seduced me
And I rode their spirals to dreams
Pockets fat with shells major discoveries came less
The shells more broken the further the walk
Stability fading I moved up the beach to softer sand
My footprints now less distinct
Pockets fat with shells my walk continued
High up the beach in this looser sand
My gait slowed to no skipping or jumping
Running neither to nor from – just walking
Peripatetic up and now over the dune
Offers no refuge from sound
Of waves calling me back to the beach
and I can’t stand here all day
Pockets leaking I must be going
perhaps by sand both soft and hard
to scud my feet through eternal water