My astrological sign is Cancer, 
a water sign. I am said to ebb and flow just as water does. Well—that certainly is true for me. But what is even truer for me is that I love the sounds of water of any type. I love the ocean roars, running fountains, rambling currents, river falls, babbling brooks, light drizzles and pouring rain. I love soaking in a bath while listening to water stream out from the faucet. I love the splashing sound of jumping into lakes, ponds, and pools (as much as I love the feel of the water on my skin).
I particularly love the rhythmic sound of waves breaking on the shoreline. I grew up in New Jersey and the Jersey shore is one of the most magical places to me because of the sounds of the ocean. Fortunately, I have had the pleasure of being lulled to sleep by the distant sound of waves on a number of beach vacations (except on one occasion when our room was so close to the ocean that the waves kept me up all night ☺).
Right now I hear a little trickling sound of water as I do everyday in my office because my cat Anubis’s water fountain is nearby. I know that some of my guests find the fountain noise annoying and I can understand how it might interfere with sleep. I find the burble of the water fountain and most water noises calming but as I learned firsthand, when too loud, water reverberations can be thundering and overwhelming.
All this talk about water—it is time for me to “take a tub” and listen to the magical delight of soothing waters as I think about these two poems. Enjoy!
The Ocean
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Ocean has its silent caves,
Deep, quiet, and alone;
Though there be fury on the waves,
Beneath them there is none.
The awful spirits of the deep
Hold their communion there;
And there are those for whom we weep,
The young, the bright, the fair.
Calmly the wearied seamen rest
Beneath their own blue sea.
The ocean solitudes are blest,
For there is purity.
The earth has guilt, the earth has care,
Unquiet are its graves;
But peaceful sleep is ever there,
Beneath the dark blue waves.
Out of the Rolling Ocean, the Crowd
by Walt Whitman
1
Out of the rolling ocean, the crowd, came a drop gently to me,
Whispering, I love you, before long I die,
I have travel’d a long way, merely to look on you, to touch you,
For I could not die till I once look’d on you,
For I fear’d I might afterward lose you.
2
(Now we have met, we have look’d, we are safe;
Return in peace to the ocean, my love;
I too am part of that ocean, my love—we are not so much separated;
Behold the great rondure—the cohesion of all, how perfect!
But as for me, for you, the irresistible sea is to separate us,
As for an hour carrying us diverse—yet cannot carry us diverse forever;
Be not impatient—a little space—know you, I salute the air, the ocean and the land,
Every day, at sundown, for your dear sake, my love.)
XOXO Rachel
Wondrance 