SECRET BEACH

The ocean has a secret.⠀
Listen, and you’ll hear it.⠀
⠀
The waves giggle over the rocks⠀
like they just know you couldn’t guess.⠀
Seagulls shriek and swirl overhead,⠀
always the gossipers.⠀
Branches contain the wind as it screams⠀
towards the ocean, wanting to be told⠀
⠀
The ocean has a secret.⠀
Watch, and you’ll see it.⠀
⠀
The rocks pull little crabs under their shadows,⠀
hushing the little busybodies.⠀
The sand draws the water over itself,⠀
covering the prints of things that have passed by.⠀
Seals are drawn back under the water,⠀
their curiosity overcome by their protection of the secret.⠀
⠀
The ocean has a secret.⠀
Wait, and you’ll feel it.⠀
⠀
There’s fear beneath the surface.⠀
Fear that these sparkling,⠀
mysterious waters and creatures⠀
will take their secret to the grave.⠀
That the world will silence them⠀
with toxins and disease,⠀
never caring enough for the secret⠀
that might come if the world will only wait.⠀
⠀
The tides know the secret.⠀
You could ask them,⠀
but they won’t tell you.⠀
⠀
They flow back and forth⠀
in an endless rhythm,⠀
unconcerned and wise.⠀
The tides have seen⠀
hundreds of lives pass,⠀
and they know⠀
that hundreds more will,⠀
long before the ocean’s secret⠀
is revealed to the world.⠀
The ocean is constant,⠀
even as everything⠀
else changes.⠀
The tides are unafraid.⠀
The secret of the ocean remains.⠀
- Bailey Black⠀
⠀
100x100cm⠀
⠀
Acrylic on Canvas

Raw Oak Timber floating frame