The Great Marsh - A Meditation
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The Great Marsh - A Meditation
Picture a great expanse - not quite land, and not quite sea
Sunlight warming the shallow waters as billions of stems of myriad grasses
stand tall, yet moved by the currents and the wind
Small islands rise up among them, covered in October woods,
lit up like candle flames amongst the miles of open, saturated grass
Oaks, Maples, Beeches, Sumacs -
They burn bright in the salted coastal air
The day begins with heavy rain, but opens up in the afternoon
and you're dry in your rain suit and boots
wading and walking slowly across this sentient place
Seeing sights few mammals reach -
Tri-colored herons, Great Blue Herons,
Snowy Egrets, Northern Harrier,
Catching fish and frogs as you watch from a distance
as the sound of passing geese fills you from your perch,
You walk the beach, you walk the shore
You walk the trail to the bird blind
You walk the mushroom rings
You walk the gravel road past the old barn
You walk through the nutrient muck, and the boggy bliss
your boots sloshing as you go
You walk the ancient stone walls, lined with Wild Asparagus
that has gone to seed, and you find a single red berry
and place it in your mouth to remind you of home -
its autumn aroma strong in your mouth
This place is a haven of sunlight,
a place of birth, a place of death, and place of vivacious life
a liminal space, a fringe, an transition, a threshold
It's a forage, a phenomena, and a refuge
This place where the North Shore meets the North Atlantic
Land is a body
Ocean is a spirit
and this Great Salt Marsh
is the conversation between them
It's salt water and freshwater, it’s not quite this or that
It's multifaceted, it's other, it's many things all at once
And everything here has to adapt
As the tides rise and cover the roads, trails and fields,
As the dunes shift like sleeping snakes along the coast,
As the driftwood and flotsam draw lines along the shoreline,
and as the marsh grass bends into strange shapes -
like the cowlicks in a child’s hair
This place is sunlight and storm
It's beach break and farmer’s wood lot
It's marsh hay for insulation, and sun streak as illusion
It's a White Tailed Deer’s bed spot, and your afternoon contemplation
It's endangered, yet thriving
So many creatures, thoughts, and selves all living together
All in constant change, all connected in a tidal circle
May you step into this place and see yourself in it
May you see the daily tides of your life rise and fall
Bringing birth and release, refuge and defeat, challenges and peace
May this place bring you sustenance for you many migrations
May you find calm water today before you head back over the dunes
May the ebb and flow, the salt and fresh water, the conversation
between the land and sea, bring about your own self awareness
You're many things all at once, at home yet always in transition -
always tidal, always here and there, always a mix of many selves and circumstances
May you draw sunlight towards you today
May you draw storms of change upon you
May you experience it all, and persist
You are not quite land, and not quite sea,
Yet you are simultaneously all of them at once
May your full self have many sides today,
With this Great Marsh
Here are a few resources to learn about The Great Marsh and plan your trip
Mass Audobon
TheGreatMarsh.Org
Send me a few pictures when you do! wes@livethecuriouslife.org
Or leave a comment below about your adventure
