The Sphinx has gone. The Greek image of frozen snow, ice and sand, standing four feet high leered out over the iron girders of the breakwater. Its base formed from ice and snow built up behind the breakwater. The lashing waves kept rolling in eroding the structure from underneath. Frozen chunks were breaking off disappearing and floating about driven by the persistent thrust of the waves.
The Sphinx lingered on. From the window I had a side view of her sculpted face, plaintive and sad. Unseeing eyes reminded me of the old Greek myths of sirens luring sailors at sea. Meanwhile waves rolled relentlessly in land spooling white ocean sprays yards high.
One morning she was gone, not a trace of her frozen image. Instead, a flotilla of white-bellied ducks appeared romping in the tossing waves. Bobbing, floating, diving and shaking their heads as they re-appeared a few yards away. It was wonderful to view their maneuvering like a floating pantomime free for anyone to watch as they moved down the lake.
Spring is just awakening from the frozen sober days of winter. I can feel the chill in the air and even the allure of one of those spectacular sunsets over Lake Huron. Still, spring has a certain hesitancy of …Not Yet…
This is but a moment in time. I have witnessed the Sphinx, the Ducks and the clashing thrust of the relentless waves crashing into shore. I too must go. I have caught an image of the changing of the seasons, the passing grandeur of time.
Eileen Foran, CSJ
Derrynane – March 2016