Heeding the unfettered call 🦉🦭

An ode to the creative ways my soul gets me to listen 🌊 ☀️

Early this morning
when the inky black 
of the star-filled night 
was just beginning 
to blur around the edges, 
an owl — 
unfettered 
by the constraints 
of polite society —
hooted outside my window, 
awakening me 
from restless dreams. 

Sleepy and befuddled,
I rolled over 
to again drift away, 
but her calls persisted, 
growing more urgent 
the longer I delayed 
in waking. 

I sat up —
the hoots stopped, 
and I got the message: 
dawn was beckoning, 
and I was being called 
to attend her. 

Thus with tired eyes 
I climbed into the car 
and drove 
to the quiet beach 
where the water 
was as still as glass 
and a thick fog 
stretched for miles, 
the only hint of dawn 
a gray brightness 
on the horizon. 

Why did you summon me here? 
I whispered grumpily 
as I sat in the wet sand 
next to softly lapping waves.

Still so tired, 
I closed my eyes 
and breathed in 
the salt air,
trying to become 
as still as the sea. 

A moment of silence, 
then I drifted off, 
shoulders slumped, 
head lolling. 

SMACK! 
I jolted awake 
to see ripples 
on the surface,
the round shiny head
of a seal
appearing a few feet 
in front of me.

The seal’s eyes 
locked on mine
as she pointedly 
hit her flipper 
against the surface 
twice again:
SMACK! SMACK!

I was now wide awake!

On the last smack, 
she dove;
the moment her tail
disappeared
into the sea,
a golden orb 
burst dramatically 
through the fog, 
instantly illuminating 
a golden path 
across the water 
to my feet.

I gasped 
in recognition:
this was the moment 
for which my soul 
had awoken me!

Sitting in the stillness
golden waves lapping
against the contours
of my ankles,
my heart full 
of thank yous 
to owl and seal
to dawn and sea
for the little miracles 
that occur 
when I heed 
the unfettered call 
of my ingenuously 
persistent 
soul. 
💜