August 20, 1968 - Part 2

Oh, God, the glories that are out there - glories in which I play no part but of which I want to be a part. It is foggy today & the fog horn bloweth - 2 blasts about 30 seconds apart - when out on the rock the splash & smash of the waves often drowns the sound of the fog horn 'til it's scarcely audible. The power and constancy of the water movements are so satisfying & such a source of comfort to me - why is it? It is cold out there, but a soft soothing cold - not bitter or sharp - tho moisture in the air is palpable & fragrant. The smell reminds me of -- what? Florida, 1948 - Dunedin, Sarasota, Clearwater, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Lake Wales? Or Mexico, Acapulco, Pie de la Cuesta, Mazatlan, or other times up here, along and around Lake Superior - but the smell is good & familiar.

For moments I become, my mind becomes, submerged in the book I'm reading & I'd lose consciousness of where I am and then as I come up and out of the book's content, I feel again what I had forgotten for the moment, the cold, the air, the wind, the splash & spatter, the fog horn - the water world.

Yesterday was marvelous - we woke up to great waves bursting apart on the rocks below us & the storm continued thru the day during which we drove north to Gooseberry Falls, Split Rock Light House, Silver Bay & the Baptism River where we hiked 1 1/2 miles to & from the falls of the river, the highest waterfall in Minnesota, coming back with shoes caked & heavy with red clay mud. Up at the falls I found more of the solitude I crave - alone with the world I absorbed, the quiet. The air was full of fine drops of water & I could not tell whether they came from the sky as a fine rain or if they were from the spray of the falls, probably both but mostly the latter. The water poured over the edge & fell clear or frothy down the rock face to explode into clouds of spray & foam at the bottom - the moving air carrying the spray horizontally thru the air in uneven bursts of mist. Without too much effort it would be imagined that we were the first to discover this natural splendor - so primeval & untouched the scene seemed.

Rain, gentle absolving rain
Cleanse me
Wash me away

Gentle soft sweet rain
Clean & sweet
Soft & new