July 17, 2012

In the early morning fog blue-green – are they fluorescent? – circles cluster in colonies in the tide pools at the base of the Pacific “stacks” at Coquille Point near the human cluster called “Bandon” (Oregon).

Anemones with star fish in Coquille Point tide pool

Every day the sea anemones are here…low tide…mid-tide…high tide…always there, opening to feed, closing to nap or sleep…with the daily rhythm of the tides. They make no protest. They entertain no illusions…of becoming whales, dolphins, seals or sea lions. They make no noise. They do not imagine themselves becoming one of those who prey on them at low tide – a seagull, cormorant or beach-comber.

They just are what they are…creatures…vulnerable…in colonies of mutual petition and intercession in the low tide broad daylight, under clouds, in morning mist, at red-sun dusk, and in the depths of high-tide darkness alike. They bear a silent blue-green fluorescent cluster testimony to the magnificence of this one moment of time next to the tall stacks… small, finite, humble…but here and beautiful…in the vastness of eternity.

Sea stacks, Coquille Point, Bandon, OR