I found it relatively easy to think of a title for my blog. ‘Life’s a Beach’ because it seemed to fit with the idea of ‘Amor fati’ that I’ve blogged about earlier.
Life has times when things run smoothly and periods of rocky uncertain times. Looking at beaches – and we’ve done a lot of that since we moved to south-west Scotland – I see smooth sands, areas ribbed by the tide, parts smothered with heaps of sea-weed and vast expanses of sharp shingle and smooth pebbles. Then of course there’s the ubiquitous plastic which has proved to be a blessing and a curse.
We learn as we go through life, to take the differences, to enjoy what we can, change what we can and accept what we can’t control.
Or, to quote Reinhold Niebuhr, hope for the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
It’s some time since I wrote the poem ‘Life’s a Beach’ and I’m still not happy with it. There will be a more drafts, but this is still ‘work in progress’.
Life’s a Beach
Shifting sands
Soft- sliding dunes
Carefree castles
Sun-baked stones
Chilling waves
Turbulent tides
Pools of dark mystery
Sun-bleached bones
Dingy detritus
Sculpted driftwood
Scattered jetsam
Shells or shelled homes
Challenging boulders
Crumbling cliffs
Eroding edges
Dared us to roam to
Cavernous depths
Whispering grasses
Walls of kelp
Washed with foam
Bobbing like flotsam
Trapped in rocky places
Shingle crunching
Life’s maelstrom
Life's a Beach 