The Distant Shore

Still longing for new insights--truths instilled by my father, but not fully understood in my youth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NBII, USGS 2009. The NBII Library of Images From the Environment (LIFE; http://life.nbii.gov, 2010 Sept. 6). National Biological Information Infrastructure, USGS, Reston VA 20912 USA.  Photographer: Randolph Femmer.  The original image can be found at http://images.nbii.gov/RFemmer/D_med-res/38%20KOKI%20BEACH%202B.jpg

 

 

The Distant Shore

 

Ah smell the ocean in the breeze

Come Wind and toss my hair

Oh Sun, please put my soul at ease

As gull cries pierce the air

 

I walk on grass, tufts mixed with sand

Oh sandals, make me free!

As people pass, and children play

They smile and look at me

 

But they can’t feel my yearning way!

The turmoil in my heart

Or all the cares to which I’m prey

How soul is ripped apart

 

And so I flee--to be alone

Drink in the ocean’s roar!

As nature sings in rumbling tones

I long for distant shores

 

To reach that beach and see those lands

My heart would burst with joy

But I'm not young, I have old hands

I’m not that once bold boy

 

So all I do is walk away

But oh, how spirit burns!

I cannot keep these thoughts at bay

For ‘ unknown yet I yearn

 

Why should this hunger pull at me--

I know it’s at my root

I learned this from my father, he

Of knowledge made pursuit

 

A simple and a working man--

No privilege in life

And yet he had a simple plan:

Knowledge he’d take to wife

 

And he’d pass on this worthy course--

This wisdom to his son

And straight and strong he’d grow perforce--

Content with life when done

 

So father sat me on his knee

When I was just a boy

“My son,” he said, “what e’er you be

Let Reason be thy joy!”

 

“Challenge your mind, challenge your soul

Wherever you might go

With weaker course you’ll not be whole

They’re paths where naught will grow”

 

And I have learned this was the key!

Throws wide bold myst’ry’s doors

When insight flowers and truths I see

I’ve reached those distant shores

 

So I have strived for all my life

To seek fair Nature’s truths

And knowledge, as my sire, made wife--

The nobl’st of pursuits

 

But now I’m old and walk the beach

And outward I do stare

There secrets lie beyond my reach

I know, I feel them there!

 

And inward weep, for time is short

As wonders slip away

I’m desperate, with no resort

No more ' there time to play

 

And so I walk and seek solace

Along this briny beach

But find no comfort in the grass

My goals in utmost breech

 

And how this hunger pulls at me--

Tugs at my very core!

As night time falls upon my life

…I long for distant shores

 

 

 

©2010 Richard Puetter

All rights reserved

Reviews

[Dinesh Sairam]

"Yet how this hunger pulls at me--
Tugs at my very core!
As night time falls upon my life
…I long for distant shores"

Not one of your best poems, but is still very good. Some stanzas seemed a bit force to me (Like the second stanza from last). But many stanzas like the one I quoted a very dreamy and apt. The title also fits the words perfectly.. :) Longing for the insights, I know that ;-) Keep writing.

[Ladysue]

You crafted this with such intricacy of emotion...this is so poignant and profound. This has so much depth and meaning and I love pieces that involve the ocean... you have such wonderful phrases...so beautifully done...

[Anthony M Smith Jr]

Ha-Ho,
“Challenge your mind, challenge your soul
Wherever you might go
With weaker course you’ll not be whole
They’re paths where naught will grow”
No doubt you are this phrase or you would not bee in the profession you chose. I often wondered about the educated mind compared to a mind such as mine(spiritual).
Steadfast in each, but as human beings we both have feelings, doubts and the difference between you and me is acceptance of fate. Today, this world suits you better than me but soon it will come my way.
Your words and thoughts are unique and intriguing for me. You study the universe I am the universe.
Life and Light!
TT-TTO-NI-K
Elk

[Sheila Kline]

Dear Rick!

Your words inspire me to write.................

And stood he on the Distant Shore
Hoping, dreaming of a life of more.
Turned he then and looked he back
Searching for that which he did lack.
But fare thee well o' wisest of men!
It is time now for thy searching to end,
For all desires of thy beating heart
Are longings destined n'er to depart.
Hold them closer yet unto you now.
Proclaim thy victory with a humble bow!

............your poem has touched me so much that words have flowed from my spirit as I can surely relate to your message of longing!

As always, your form is perfection, and your message cannot be mistaken as you deliver it with powerful phrases singing with success, teachings of your father, your life's happenings, and to the final verses which are sung with notes of sadness.....melancholy they are!

The opening lines with reference to the ocean, the wind and sun set the stage for happenings leading you to the point of searching for that on distant shores.....that which tugs at your very core!

Yes, there is indeed great longing, yet the Rick Puetter I have come to know shall never stop learning, questioning, searching, so I see the distant shore as an abstract object which shall never be reached! Yearning is that which leads to discovery, feeds the spirit with excitement, and shall surely spur you on to learn even more!

Remember your words:

And I have learned this was the key!

Throws wide bold myst’ry’s doors

When insight flowers and truths I see

I’ve reached those distant shores.......................

Yes, Dream on............every distant shore is only distanced by the body of water from point A to point B! It is up to the scientist to discover ways to bridge the span!

Another stellar write.........but, I expect nothing less from you!

Best Regards,
Sheila

[Samuel Dickens]

This is one is very approachable and even sounds like it could be my theme song. Our thirst for knowledge, adventure, and yearn for love do not fade with the pigment in our aging hair. This is one of my favorites, Rick.

[Linda Marie Van Tassell]

I think it's human nature to always desire for more ... more time, more money, more adventure, more travels, more of this and more of that. I think our greatest gift to ourself is to be content with what we have, to quit desiring that which we do not have. If we don't, then we constantly wish for more.

I think your poem is a beautiful journey through the wandering mind of a man during the twilight of his life. I think these thoughts begin midway and only get stronger as we get older.

Great job!

Linda Marie

[Ellen Hammond]

Dear Rick, this lovely poem reveals both your scientific mind and your poetic heart. It has great rhyme and meter and a subject to which I can really relate.

The allure of the sea stirs the soul to yearn for distant shores, to see more, experience more, know more. etc. Yet, it also causes us to reflect on how the seasons of life have taken their toll and we realize our own limitations. We come to see that life is short and there will always be unanswered questions because every answer we find carries with it a whole new set of questions. Therefore, my friend, take some time to play as it refreshes your mind, heart, and soul.

This is a wonderful, thought provoking poem, with layers of depth. Love it!

[emmajoy]

Oh Rick, what an emotional piece of writing, such an insight to thought.

My immediate reaction is to your fine meter, which in 99% of this poem is absolutely bang on, consequently the poem near sings.

I sighed loudly when I read the first stanza because to me the ocean is the one place where all emotions seem to unite .. 'Ah smell the ocean in the breeze ~ Come Wind and toss my hair ~Oh Sun, please put my soul at ease ~ As gull cries pierce the air'

Your path through life seems to have been one advised and guided by your father, then, gently, succesfully put into action but now, as life travels on there are doubts, regrets .. 'But now I’m old and walk the beach ~ And outward I do stare ~ There secrets lie beyond my reach ~ I know, I feel them there! ~~ And inward weep, for time is short ~ As wonders slip away ~ I’m desperate, with no resort ~ No more ‘ there time to play '

Surely all men and women who've lived a full life and are totally aware of it, still have the natural urge to see and do more, in spite of feeling their time and energies decrease etc ; yet it's that, the having been there that proves that life continues whatever the condition of the body and spirit. Even desire is proof of desire itself, its just coming to terms with a gentler, less daring way of living, of seeing those 'distant shores'. If by those two words you mean that you need escape for those feelings then, that's sad .. life makes its own paces, surely we shouldn't need to leave it because we have to walk instead of run.

I could go on and on about your theme but a review is meant to cover the technicalities of someone's writing .. so, all I can add is that this is as fine a post as one could read in the CAfe .. it touches the heart, it makes one think, and realise that one must live for each and every day.

[Legion]

So much more to learn and see,
Perhaps the reason I crave immortality.
'Tis not the fear of death, as well a lesson,
But a cranial craving that drives this Legion.



Well done. Like the flow and the meaning. Kudos. Long time no see. How you been?

[Mark]

How frustrating, to feel the limits of what there is to know expanding, even as your awareness of the finitude of life becomes paramount! A conflict many have doubtless wrestled with. We have already had our debate on the necessity of knowing everything, so I'll not unbury that hatchet, nor can I comment on that frustration. But as to your gift for expressing them, Top-notch as always! No "finitude" to be found here at all!

[Charles D. Moorer]

At the twilight of one's life, I sense underlying regret and conflict of choice, but the noble quest appears to be unabated. There is just enough here to make the reader see the fork in the road you have created for yourself, for us.