10.28.2023 – immanence of ghosts

immanence of ghosts
foam’s oblivion whitening
under crumbling coasts

From the poem, Ultimatum, published in Vigils by Siegfried Sassoon, 1935, LONDON, WILLIAM HEINEMANN, LTD.

Something we cannot see, something we may not reach,
Something beyond clairvoyant vision of the years
Our senses, winged with spirit, wordlessly beseech.
Meanwhile rife rumourings of the earth are in our ears, —
The lonely beat of blood, the immanence of ghosts,
And foam’s oblivion whitening under crumbling coasts.

I watched the sunrise this morning.

I watched the sunrise this morning with my morning coffee in my hand and my morning reading in my lap.

I watched the sunrise this morning looking out my window over the roof of the building next door.

I watched the sunrise this morning but I never saw the sun.

The sky above the building next door was black, full dark black, then first light black, then dark gray, then gray, then silver gray, then silver then the lightest light blue as the particles in the atmosphere began to pick to the presence of the ocean about a mile away from me but miles away from the sky.

To the sky, the ocean is almost just rumourings of the earth

Those particles in the atmosphere are something we cannot see, something we may not reach.

I understand or at least, accept the physics of what is happening here.

The colors are there.

Not just in our senses … or are they?

That ocean reflects its color into the sky while the foam’s oblivion whitening under crumbling coasts.

I watched the sunrise this morning and never saw the sun.