Heaven and the ocean

[littlemanpoet]

The Sea

The Sea calls with the cry of the gulls,
Calls us to leave these changeful lands,
Where leaves fall,
trees are felled,
and mountains crumble.
The gulls call us to cross the Sea
heeding the call of Elbereth to come
to lands undying where
leaves never fall,
flowers never fade,
trees flourish,
and the mountains stand tall
in Eldamar.

I composed this back in 2002 - I think because of some inspiration from this site. It's nothing great, of course, but I thought I'd put myself inside the skin of an Elf, if I could, and see what came.

I think that the ocean - when calm - evokes for us the things that seem most like heaven to us - the mystical, seemingly eternal, peaceful yet powerful, wholly 'other', where we cannot survive without aid. All that water, so very physical but something we cannot take hold of, and yet what it is, is very much what we are.

Still, there are things about the ocean that have something in common with being out in a meadow on a starry moonless night, seeing the milky way banded across the sky.