Pebble

I found this pebble on the Beach at Hell's Mouth, or Porth Neigwl as it is named in Welsh. It's a long beach, at least four miles, rugged, and the currents there are strong. I go there sometimes to watch the surfers or look for dried pipe fish.

The top of the beach is pebble, in fact in terms of pebbles it is probably the best pebble beach I've ever found.

The Llyn is volcanic. The mountains are actually extinct volcanoes and the glaciers seemed to deposit rocks carried from the length and breadth of Britain in the last ice age. The beach is literally covered in tiny pieces of somewhere else and all shades and hues are to be found. I've found Pumice, Quartz, Feldspar, Granite, Carnelian, Moss Agate, and when the pebbles are wet they sparkle like gems; some of them actually are.

I often slip a pebble into my pocket and bring it home. This one sits on the windowsill in my office. I like the swirls in it, it reminds me of a wave.

Pebble

I found you on a beach
Wave washed
Smooth
Rounded
White
Shined by sea
Picked and pocketed
By me

I held you in my hand
Cup closed
Cold
Pitted
Hard
Rocked in round
Stroked and softened
Hard ground

I tamed from you the sea
Sealed scars
Mended
Polished
Shined
Bright blown
Longed and loved
My own

Oh my pebble
How journeyed hard
To find our place
Close clasped to sea
Together joined
As solid singularity