Remembering "Dover Beach," Block Island
Rent from DeepDyve- Remembering "Dover Beach," Block Island
I never understood the grating, long withdrawing roaruntil I closed my eyes and sat beneath the bluffsof this rocky, shingled shore, listening to the wavesas they slide, ringing, back into the sea. So easy nowto hear through Arnold's lines the pebbles lashed and tossed,the melancholy bells of rocks worn oblong in the tides.Pressed against my cheek, stones retain the coldness of the deep.We'd come for a wedding: witnessed vows, danced beneatha tent, and then took flight to bed. This morning, climbingpast hedges gone over to red and fleshy hips, past featheredgoldenrod, then down to these deserted cliffs,I remember that great poem, and how we, too,have been flung about by chance, or God, and stripped by loss,and how you've brought me joy, and love, and light, and helpfor pain, and how we stand on this shore together and letthe water cool our naked feet again. [End Page 8]
Anya Silver's first book of poetry, The Ninety-Third Name of God, is forthcoming from the Louisiana State University Press. Her poetry has appeared in Image, Crab Orchard Review, Witness, and other journals. She lives in Macon, Georgia, with her husband and son.
