“Time and Tide wait for no man” is how the saying goes. It is a recommendation against procrastination and as I am reading Patrick O’Brian’s naval novels (for the third time) I understand the reference. However . . .

We waited for the tide to turn so that we might have our walk. It was past dawn, though if the sky were clear we would not see the sun for at least two hours. Out we went a half hour past full but the stretch of rocks were were most interested in searching were awash and we often had to run up shore to avoid getting wet.

There were fourteen whimbrels further note on the shore, and when we returned home there were four plucking sand crabs from the wet sand.

We saw no one, only the tracks of one earlier walker, and perhaps that person went out last night. Their prints vanished in the waves.

We found the ocean and we gathered and we were fortunate to be together.

This evening we watched “Shelter in Poems” from the Academy of American Poets. You might find it here: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/shelterinpoems

After a false start with no sound, the poems start at about ten minutes and forty seconds in. I would like to say that if you can listen to Merwin’s “Thank You” without tears you are not quite human, but that sounds like a dare to some people. I will say that I taught many of these poems, I was grateful to hear them and to discover others that will carry me on.