The Atlantic

(Found here)

     In the same way, if a man has once looked at the Atlantic

     from the beach . . .

     ~C. S. Lewis

I remember dissecting the dark mysteries of theology

one night   on a Florida beach in my youth

the Atlantic breathing as though alive

     my friends & I having followed

     the red ribbon of I-75

     all the way from Detroit to the coast

It was as though   by our free will   we were predestined

to oversimplify the vastness we faced

to participate in the cartography of the Holy Ghost

     experiencing the salty taste

     the wind stirring high in the palm trees

     & the joy of the shore   as our strength

Essential   though like a futile attempt to embrace

the sea   to put that entire ocean in a bottle

to be slipped into a message

~D. S. Martin  (from Conspiracy of Light: Poems Inspired by the Legacy of C. S. Lewis)