Matt Was Here

Dancing Midst Coral Caves

Dancing Midst Coral Caves is a metaphor, as many poems are. It is, at its core, about a relationship between two people of different backgrounds who come together in a splash of passion. After a year or so the passion fades and they both start seeing faults in the other. The image of a perfect partner shatters. Many new relationships cannot make it through this tumultuous time. But as the storm dies, if they can stay strong there will be new bonds formed. Bonds of love that are much, much more difficult to break. This is the time when true strength and companionship grows, when both parties of a relationship recognize that the other person has their own strength and depth of character. I am lucky enough to have made it through one of these storms with someone special. And while our relationship is still very new in the scheme of life, we have grown very strong together. I wrote Dancing Midst Coral Caves shortly after our first major storm. I post it now for two reasons:

1. I have only just restarted posting on MattWasHere

2. Rachel and I just spent a week road tripping down the California coast and were lucky enough to pass through the Big Sur region south of Monterey. This rugged stretch of coastline reminded me about my story/poem of the land and the sea.

Without any further ado I give you Dancing Midst Coral Caves.

This is a story of the sea

Falling in love, patiently

This is a song about the land

Stubborn Rock, malleable sand

They dance the dance of eternity

Mutual respect and prosperity

The ocean changes, calm to storm

The rock stays steady, every morn

The earth just sees a mile’s glimpse

And the sea just sights the stony cliffs

And though no force, can compete

With the coast, where they meet

The mountain peak, is not understood

Nor the life, in jungle and wood

The sea knows naught of meadow and spring

Nor of land’s beasts, nor bird on wing

And the cliff face does not comprehend

The dark depths of its mighty friend

The creatures strange, housed in her water

No knowledge of whale or otter

Both these forces do not understand

That the differences of ocean and land

Are not differences but similarities

That the coral can stand for the trees

And the pressures in the trenches deep

Are same as thin air on mountain’s peak

Though to each other, they seem strange

They know their love cannot be changed

For eternity, their dance is true

Tale old as time, told for two

A storm pauses song, one fateful day

Waves rock the coast, take sand away

Landslide threatens ocean’s path

The forces dance, beneath storm’s wrath

Storm whispers in ocean’s ear

The sea agrees with single tear

This containment simply cannot stand

The ocean must drown the land

Waves chip away at solid rock

Earth cries out in pain and shock

And in its rage the core demands

That from the sea, should rise new lands

To take back ground, that broke away

In deep waters, land will prey

With volcanoes rage, earth must rise

A new mountain peak to touch the skies

The sea cries out as lava scathes

Seeks retribution with storming waves

The earth rises with a quake

Following suit, a tsunami wakes

Forces churn the dance askew

Aimed at one but maiming two

And in this rage, no end seems near

The world looks on and sheds a tear

For land and sea were meant to be

And all are shook by this tragedy

But storm subsides, the land, it bleeds

Volcano stops bruising the seas

Both with scars it starts to seem

That dance is now a broken thing

They tend their wounds and start to feel

That eventually their hurts will heal

But the loneliness, neither can abide

They long for each other by their side

Earth feels its heart call longingly

For its dearest of friends, the sea

And the ocean seeks to find a way

To take its love to the bay

Where calm waters meet soft sand

And sea can cuddle with the land

A truce is called and they realize

That though each seeks a different prize

The earth now knows the sea must breathe

The waters know now, land will never leave

They must seek to understand

What makes the sea, and the land

New island stands with slopes of green

Saw depths in water, previously unseen

And sea turns eyes towards the peak

Now understands that land’s not weak

Knowledge between them starts to grow

Land breeds coral, ocean sees snow

They fall in love even more

Those shifting currents, that stony shore

The song rises, the love remains

The dance moves on, midst coral caves

Even now storm can gray the skies

But the sun will always rise

For eternity, their dance will be true

Tale old as time, told for two