of one high-flying gull
in the winter sky
can return me to that safe-haven place
I roamed as a child
How I love my town in the winter! It is such a place of refuge for me, a place to reflect and gain solace. My day just isn't complete without a peaceful walk along the frozen beach, plowing headstrong into an icy north wind, or standing at the very place where the white-capped waves collapse onto the empty beach.
This morning (26 degrees), on my way to the beach, I heard the crystal clear cry of a gull high above me and was amazed at how this one sound that goes back to my earliest memories, could meld all the years of my life together into one. There was something very centering about it, something that touched the core of me, that made all the chaos of daily life just fall away. I felt safe and happy with simply existing.
I guess it is even deeper than that. Words, sometimes, are so limiting; I guess that is what I like so about tanka--the ability for so few words to carry nuances and ideas and emotions in between the lines that escape language! There is a feeling, or a suggestion in the poem that can be understood, but not explained.
Amazing how a single moment-winter, walking in the cold on my way to the beach and the sound of a gull's cry-can transform a moment--a moment captured in 5 little lines.
