a wonder of profound moments

Summer Solstice ‘18

I first celebrate this day of abundant light

by getting up at 2:30 a.m.

and going out on the deck

at this house by the Pacific Ocean:

the sky is clear

and hundreds of stars pinprick the blackness,

the Milky Way a faint band above me,

dawn comes clear and cool,

the ocean like a sunbather ready for the rays,

sea and shore birds all filled with purpose,

the early sun caresses the plants and rocks of the shore,

and reveals a brilliant whiteness to the breaking waves,

till quickly subdued a bit by a rising mist to the east,

contrast ramps down as a gray filter

rises between us and the rising sun,

the mood of the day is fickle so far,

typically mercurial for this part of the California coast,

a constant: the rocks who jut out into the waves are contorted

as if frozen screams from millennia of plates

grinding against each other,

I imagine the pressure when they were on the seabed

fusing them back into stone,

then the lifting, the twisting 

as continental and ocean plates each asserted a will,

some magma intruding to fill cracks, visible as bands now,

we celebrate the high point of the year

by driving down the coast to Point Lobos,

a protected marine reserve,

where the land abruptly rises from a bountiful sea,

so rich that rafts of otters lounge and feed

among the floating mats of seaweed,

harbor seals cavort and then sleep off 

their big meals on rocky islands,

a raucous calling from the gathering of sea lion males, 

adults and juveniles,

who cry out into the air 

as if they’re the loud English House of Commons,

even the plants seem caught up in the extravagance:

mats of lizard’s tail and bluff lettuce, with quantities of 

monkey flower, yarrow, and paintbrush,

myriad of other flowers greet us as we walk,

we stroll to the Bird Island overlook,

great rocks thrusting straight up from the water

with no connection to the mainland and its predators,

so hundreds of Brandt’s Cormorants nest there, 

close to the fish they easily catch,

we watch two black heron’s nests

through the enormous camera lens of a friendly volunteer,

who also points out where peregrine falcon often perch,

and we see one! and hear it screech off into the air,

with a mate?

the sun decides to brightly reveal this luxuriant world,

releasing blues and greens with the clear water 

that stretch what the palette can envision

and that clearly etch every line of animal and plant and rock,

mist comes back in again and again

and then goes away again and again,

as if to cleanse our palate between courses,

this Solstice is full of awe,

and we need  a pause in between courses of the bounty

so that we can hope to appreciate the next moment,

this Summer Solstice is a wonder of profound moments,

as the sun sets on the day

we hold the brilliance of its moments as long as we can.

Crab, Tidal Pool, Point Lobos

by Henry H. Walker

June 21, ‘18