The Gift
by Carla Martin-Wood
Inspired by the photography of Brenda Levy Tate & Randall Scholten

Gingerly stepping down ridges of shale
sharp-edged and slick with the first flakes of snow
beneath skies brooding heavy and dark
I made my way at sunrise
seeking the gifts I’ve come to know
wait for me at the tide’s edge

shells opalescent and whorled
seaglass translucent as aquamarine
driftwood worn smooth by loving
of waves and salt and time

I never know just what I’ll find

but there is this faithful knowledge
that something waits
beyond the jagged rise
something to pocket
and call my own
to place on a shelf
to remind
the journey is worth the dare
the rocks are worth the climb

and yet
today I found nothing
though I walked a mile or more
scavenging the water’s edge
disappointed as a child
who wakes forgotten
Christmas morn

just as I had turned to go
empty-handed and bereft
a golden shaft of light broke through
and sweeping down in graceful arc
on pinions shining white
as any angel well might hope to wear
a gull swooped low
to skim the mirrored waves
and scatter light about me everywhere

there in its bright reflection
I knew myself rewarded for the climb
no beggar poet could have asked for more
than this simple, earthbound angel
bearing its golden tithe of heaven’s store.

©2010, Carla Martin-Wood

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Smoky Joes Cafe

Nikon D700, 20 mm f/2.8D Lens
Port Orford, Oregon, USA

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