Tags
by-the-wind-sailor, common blue butterfly, connemara, rock pools., sea, stones, terns, Velella velella, walking, yellow horned poppy
One day when exploring some rock pools in Connemara I came across a tiny jelly fish. Almost transparent but tinged with a deep blue, what caught my attention was it’s ‘sail’. Hoisted merrily this sail allowed the wind propel it across the pool. When I looked it up I saw it was a Velella velella. A tiny jellyfish that uses the wind to transport it.
But it was its other name that made me fall in love with this tiny creature of the sea. By-the-wind-sailor. How apt that description but also how lovely the wording sings. So here is my poem called By-the-sea-walker.
Today I left my bicycle at home
and went ‘by the sea walking’
today I went slower
by the sea
walking
Today I met the bird watch warden
while by the sea walking
It turns out he knows my brother
(the world is a small place
when you go by the sea walking)
today I saw a yellow horned poppy
and a common blue butterfly
and a stone that looked like a terns egg
but was really
just a stone.
and a stone in the shape of a heart
with a chip and a line through it
like a broken heart
I also passed two ladies
‘Ah sure listen to me now
we’ll soon be living in a traffic jam”
they said to each other
not if you go by the sea walking
I said to myself
The end