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Tuesday 7 October 2008

Step In Step Out of the Rain --- by Mimitig

.

Autumn suddenly shocks
Out of clear blue skies
The weather storms in from the Firth

No gentle sprinklings here
I stand – on the lower cliff
At the Preishach
I can see the weather
Coming straight from the north

The black cloud is the storm-bringer
Fistfuls of rain
Thrown from above

Run, run along the cliff path
Past the bright huts
Past the dolphins, breaching
They haven’t felt the violence
Or maybe do not care

The storm breaks over me
I stop, stand, gaze and wonder
At the dolphins

In their element of water
They seem to laugh
But not at me

Their fun in the waves
Makes me forget the wet, cold sogginess
Of being human

Joyfully, the dolphins play
They seem to know
That behind the black
Is sunlight

I reach the harbour
Look back to wave goodbye
To my friends

Do they see what I see?
Sun breaking through
A rainbow

One end seems rooted on the cliff
The other plunges into dolphin country

Just for a moment
Land and water creatures share the beauty
And the peace that comes after the storm

Smiling but sodden
I run home for a hot shower
Dry clothes
Warmth

.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dolphins!

there is much to ponder in this, but I especially like how the title makes you look at it from two different directions.

Anonymous said...

I like the image of those dolphins at the end of the rainbow...

offsideintahiti said...

Lovely stuff, mimi, beautiful images.

I went diving last sunday and we met a group of dolphins on the way out, playing in the pass between the lagoon and the ocean. It's always a thrill. It's a shame we never see them under water - they're the long beak, "spinner" type, very shy of divers - but they love to play near the stem of the boat.

I have actually wondered before how dolphins and whales experience the rain. We have wooden tiles and I love the sound of the rain on the roof. I can't help wonder what it's like for these creatures for whom the world is nearly all sound.

Here's a neat site: http://www.surfersforcetaceans.com/

(whether you're a surfer or not)

Anonymous said...

munni - I can't claim full credit for the title.
When I walk the beach and cliffs I always have songs in my head - though not with headphones as I haven't worked out the MP3 player properly yet!

The night before I went for the walk that started this poem, I had listened to Simple Minds "Sparkle in the Rain" and I had some riffs in my head. Could have easily been Street Hassle, but it was the bass of Waterfront that got me going as I watched the weather.

With that running through, I was just singing "Step in step out of the Rain" and it came from there.

Offie: I looked at your site - and all the links are for big organisations. I'm going to pass the address onto my friend who runs the Moray Dolphins group. I went up to Chanonry Point yesterday evening but it was pretty rough on the Firth and no sign of any dolphins. Hopefully next time - I always end up with a big smile when I've been watching them.

Anonymous said...

Ah, but what I like is the way the poem folds out of the title, so you do get full credit for that.

Anonymous said...

Did you know you can only see a rainbow if you have the sun behind you and the rain in front of you? So Mimi's dolphins probably couldn't see the rainbow... well, that's the scientific explanation, of course you might feel that they'd actually arranged it for their own amusement.

offsideintahiti said...

Mimi, the first couple of lines of this one are for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejJmZHRIzhY

Anonymous said...

Zeph, I did not know that. Must go look for a rainbow now, to check if it's true.

offsideintahiti said...

Munni, beware of little green guys with Oirish accents...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI5w-GfNJxo&feature=related

Anonymous said...

Offie - how did you know? Fave song.

Back in the day when I did mad road-racing, I had Heroes on the old-fashioned tape Walkman. Getting the speed up on the downhill of Whitehall, coming to the bridge, I used to yell (not sing) You Can be Heroes as I risked it all at the roundabout.

Always hoped there's be a big red bus going right round so I could get the slipstream.

offsideintahiti said...

Mimi, don't take the title of this next one personally! It's just another aspect of Bowie, that maintains a (ok, rather tenuous) link with dolphins and a little advertising for one of the quirkiest films I ever saw. I loved it, it's got Bill Murray in it, and the whole soundtrack is like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1KzENzu9sM&feature=related

Anonymous said...

Not likely to take anything personally - I will look at this link after I finish being emotionally exhausted listening to Ocean Rain. That I have owned in vinyl since it first came out, but just today got on CD. And so after years of not listening, I now listen. It's my friend's band. And the friend who died.

Still good songs, good music. Makes me remember .... lots of stuff.

Anonymous said...

Just been sent a book to read and chapter one is called:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SjALpxO-Ak

Gotta read it!!

Anonymous said...

and then listen to this maybe?

Anonymous said...

Ah ha - I know that clip, but it's nothing compared to the full glory that is Four in the Morning!