Gently holding

anguished fish,

haloed by

coral alveolae.

Undersea,

Underworld.

 

Melanie, FAS Summer School, Oxford, 28.8.2011

 

 

 

 

As I kneel before this gentle giant

I am drowning in the healing waters of his love and compassion,

He nourishes my soul with tender fish and pearls of wisdom

I yearn for the peace and tranquility he promises as he has
'The Whole World in his Hands'.

He promises greater things if I allow myself to let go,
transcend and trust.

              London, 2013

 

 

 

 

 

Sit still

 

Blue shimmer

Peaceful hold

Translucent

 

Sparkling colours

Moving gently

Salt sea glitter

 

Forever kind

Always loving

Return to mystery

 

Sit still

 

Ursula D., London 2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Fishes

 

At the very end he was helpless,

 

Staring out at tubes and lights,

 

Held in place by hard science.

 

The nurse brought water to wet his lips,

 

And he moved like a man underwater,

 

Like a baby, new to this world:

 

A pearl in soft oyster sheets,

 

A pink soul grown around grit.

 

Sophie Juneau, 27th December, 3013

 

 

 

 

Dissolve.

No holding tight as currents sway a perfect circle

molecule by molecule  

particles cannot be grasped

waiting patiently

sea how they settle

                                                                         Sunflower, West Sussex, 26.12.2014

 

 

A subtle heart-ache, for ‘no reason’

Runs quietly underneath my distraction,

A subterranean sea of discontent.

I hear the waves moving gently below,

And I listen to their music.

A ‘flop’ sound as the surf hits the beach

A ‘hiss’ as the tide recedes.

A ‘gurgle’ as it curls around rock-pools.

I swim out in the swell.

Here it is silent.

The busy ocean-worlds

beneath me

taking me

into my own watery silence.

                                                     Melanie, Old Warden, 26.12.2016

 

Into the deep there Neptune reigns

 

Enthroned below in blue abode

 

Unseen realms illusory force

 

Expands encircles spiraling codes

 

Where dreams do drown in earthly tombs

                                                                                     

                                                                                         Kim S., Phoenix AZ, 27.12.2019

 

 

 

 

Ancient primordial ancestor

in otherworldly underwater Eden 

on intricate coral throne

Healing hands hold beginnings and endings

in the lap of the gods

Jacqueline, 27.12.2020, online

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poseidon's Revenge

Oh my Jupiter

Oh my Neptune

Ode to my friends

And their feathered foes

Foam on the violent seas

And mists In a foggy dew

Bring forth your passions

And quiet a bitter soul

Behold the breath of Heaven

As you journey forth

Into the dark and storm

Returned in morning

By the pain

And the days of night

Karl Skellenger RN, Cleveland, Ohio

8th February 2021

Dedicated to Ron Fuller RN

[RIP 9th February 2021]

 

 

 

Pisces   

 

inspired by the Twelve Days of Christmas retreat

 

 

While he holds the great wheel,

 

fish eternal, growth and root,

 

compassion and madness twine his sight,

 

the tender persistence of form. 

 

 

 

A shape arises in the formless tide,

 

I seek forgetful solace

 

in the eternal sluice of the sea,

 

but it is new and old, never now. 

 

Sarah Fuhro  December 24-26 2021  

 

 

When the sadness comes

And protection is needed

The sea is the place to reconect wth the strength

The kindness of the water,

Slowlt merge everything in a shell,

Making us as a whole,

Collecting the pieces that we lost before.

 

                                       Kim Bins, Oxford 2024.