Water-Music's Refrain

free verse interpreting a painting of the sea

"Water-Music's Refrain"



Standing before a particular painting
on a museum wall,
I smell salty sea spray.
Clouds of mist seem to brush my face.

As waves pull away returning to sea life,
frothy water rolls over large fallen stones
on a wet beach
leaving designs behind in the sand.

The painting's middle ground of rocky cliffs
offer shades of grey and burnt sienna brown.
A rush of turquoise colored water, white-tipped,
beat on their craggy walls along sandy bottoms.

Along the horizon's jagged line,
rays of sunlight broke through a dark cloud,
splashing iridescent yellow and orange light
across the sky.

Bouncing off the mountain,
rainbow fractured colors glisten.
Childhood memories
of my kaleidoscope come to mind.

Repeating sounds of tides
pushing forward
and relaxing back into the sea,
creates the imagined water-music's refrain.




line count 24