My friend Margaret Gosden created this artwork to celebrate the finding of a message in a bottle many years ago.
(Learn more of her techniques at http://mgosden.blogspot.com).
I intended to write a poem about her experience but something more personal evolved.
THE MESSAGE
I am a message,
A message in a bottle.
I am also the bottle.
We are indivisible.
I was cast upon the waters
'In the beginning'.
The glass from which I was fashioned was glossy then,
With a shimmering sheen.
I bobbed merrily
In playful waves.
My message was safe,
On crisply folded paper.
The tides pulled,
The currents dragged,
The winds toyed.
But my destination was inevitable.
Later came the debris,
The flotsam and jetsam,
The irritating loveliness
Of other passing bottles.
Some collided with me,
For good or ill.
Sometimes storms came.
I rolled,
I dived,
I twisted.
Yet I survived.
My glass was strong;
My message was safe.
Still crisp,
Still neatly folded.
Now hairline cracks appear in the glass!
Will the message be ruined?
I float towards
The Destination.
I can see it from here.
It is swathed in cloud.
Shall I smash on the rocks?
Or shall I mysteriously
Move into the cloud
And find that I have been wrong all along?
If the 'me' of the bottle smashes
The 'me' of the message will also be destroyed.
And will that matter?
The message is banal anyway.
It merely says
'I AM'
