Creative Writing: Tanka 9 (Collection)

A collection of Tankas I wrote about my memories growing up on the Central Oregon Coast:

1.
Home is where the waves
Crash against the rocks, roaring
Fiercely against the
Land, while the vast ocean is
In harmony with the wind

2.
Where the sea meets sky
Stands the light of my soul, while
The wind alone sings
The heart song of my drifting
Spirit, floating on the waves

3.
Home feels so distant,
The gentle hush of rolling
Waves whispering with
The shore, mixing sea with star,
Can not be reached by my soul

4.
I hear the white waves
Calling my spirit home, the
Pull of the Ocean
Tugging my heart back to shores
Long forgotten in childhood

5.
In our youth we made
Tiny beacons on the beach,
Bonfires that gave us
A chimera of glory
And sweet immortality

6.
Summer meant one thing:
Tourist season - full of folks
Wanting to escape
To the sea and embrace a
Life full of tranquility

7.
To move inland is
Unfathomable, it would
Be the death of me,
To be separated from
The great life-giving waters

8.
Nothing makes me more
Homesick than the howling wind
Whipping through my hair,
Like the ocean breeze, so loud
It could drown out the whole world

9.
My soul is restless
Like a ship caught in a storm
Yearning for a light
To guide me safely ashore
Through the neverending gloom

10.
As a child I would
Spend many cloudy days in
Playing hide-and-seek
On steep cliffs by the water,
Trying to find sea lions

11.
As a visitor,
To truly experience
The Oregon Coast
You must go to the ocean
On a gloomy, windy day

12.
Gloomy days at sea
Force the dreary, dismal air
Into the heart, but
Do not despair, weary soul
For clouds do not block the Light

13.
Learning about the
Coastal shelf and marine life,
Tide times, rip currents,
Is just part of growing up
In a tiny seaside town

14.
The Spirit hovered
Over the Waters that my
Life was defined by,
Rivers and rain, the lakes and
Ocean blue, all around me

15.
A lighthouse stands in
The darkness, alone and bright
Like a fallen star
Made by men, trying to be
God Immortal, Guiding Light

16.
I once grieved at the
Ocean beside my best friend
We wrote in the sand
The names of my father and
Her brother, mourning our loss

17.
One day we will sail
Away from this seaside town
Across the ocean
To adventures and places

New, lost to the vast Unknown

18.

I once went fishing

Out on the soothing waters

With my grandfather

We did not catch any fish

But we caught good memories

19.
Almost two thousand
Days away from Oregon
Has not diminished
My love for the Beaver State
Only grows while I am gone

20.
My soul yearns to yield
To the lure of the ocean
The pull of the waves
The call of the horizon
The tide of the Eternal