~ The Words In Your Mouth ~ 

 

Come here, children.

Let me put your thoughts

into words.

 

Breathe deep,

taste the air—

moist with mangrove spice

and tidal decay.

 

One day

when you smell that smell

you will remember my words

and this day.

 

Listen, children.

Listen to the wind—

Do you hear it singing

through the driftwood?

Lonely sailors mistook it

for a siren's song.

 

Look, children.

The bright yellow sargassum

floating in from the deep.

Pick it up.

Gently. Gently.

Now hold it over your hand

and watch the life fall out.

 

Remember, children:

we are no less fragile

than these tiny creatures.

 

Now, children, see the sea

with its peacock feather colors

and white veins of sand

which turn green at the flats

and then blue at the reef

and purple in the deep.

 

Know that I, too, will one day

flow into the deep—

but my words, dear children,

will live on in your mouth.

 

~ Sean Bloomfield, OceanLife.com

 

I wrote this poem at the beginning of 2019 in the Florida Keys on a trip there with my daughter, Anna, and youngest son, John.

We had taken our boat to an uninhabited island near Duck Key and spent a good part of the day hunting for driftwood treasures among the mangroves, something I had done as a child with my Uncle Jon and Grandpa Pat.

In fact, this time we were staying with my aunt and uncle—well, technically my cousins, but I grew up calling them Aunt Elaine and Uncle Jon, and they've been a big part of my life—at the house they built in Duck Key in the 70s.

Uncle Jon had taken us to his favorite "treasure hunting" island, and as he led the children and me through a mangrove forest, he shared his memories of past expeditions in search of driftwood, unique flotsam, and other bounty.

John and Anna listened with wonder, and Uncle Jon's tales made every new "treasure" we found all the more spectacular for them.

Later, I took them to the same island to scour the sand for hermit crabs, one of which now lives in our house, and that afternoon we spent hours shaking sargassum in search of tiny sea creatures.

Filled with memories of my past and gratitude for the love of the ocean that had been handed down to me, nothing makes me happier than seeing the "Ocean Life" being passed down to my children. After all, anything that inspires me to take the time to write a poem despite my busy schedule must mean something!