Surrounded By Palm Trees

I was going through some old writings and I found this poem and journal entry from one month after moving to the Florida Keys, so this would have been written in December 1997.  It's funny to try and put myself back to that girl, newly arrived on an island with the whole world waiting outside her door.  In some ways it seems like just yesterday, and in others like an eternity ago.  I have truly come to take it for granted that the sun shines most of the time, I see palm trees if I look out my window and the ocean if I leave my house.

Palm trees.  I am now surrounded by palm trees.  Every way I look, I can see palm trees.  The wind in the palm trees sounds like rain.  I love that. 

Mangrove trees are cool too.  Like the palms, they co-exist with the ocean and the elements, tough yet flexible, clinging to life and to the land against all odds.  Mangroves not only dig their roots into the land, but help to create the very land that gives them life.  In the movie Key Largo, Lauren Bacall compared herself and people who made their homes in the Keys to Mangroves, digging their roots in and becoming a necessary part of the land. 

I really love the Keys.  I am still in awe of the fact that my home is on this tiny strip of land surrounded by ocean on all sides, joined to the mainland by one road that is nothing more than bridges between islands.  Nearly 100 miles from mainland Florida, about 100 from mainland Cuba.  It’s like living on the edge of the world.  Frightening, exhilarating, and yet just life, we live day to day and work, love, laugh and play and in only one month have come to take it for granted in small ways.  This is where I live.  And I love where I live!

Song of the Sea

I hear the cry of the wind, hear the song of the sea. 

I feel that hot tropic sun shining down on me. 

Give me the wind in my hair, give me love, set me free. 

Give me peace in the shade of a swaying palm tree.

I've wanted to do this for years

I’m going to do it this time

I’m learning to hold back the tears

and I’m leaving old ghosts and fears.

I've finally made the decision

I’m sticking to it this time

my senses and intuition

are honed to a fine precision

There's a yearning inside me

that can only be eased 

by sunshine and sea

I can't deny, it’s meant to be

My soul needs the shade 

of a swaying palm tree

I hear the cry of the wind, hear the song of the sea. 

I feel that hot tropic sun shining down on me. 

Give me the wind in my hair, give me love, set me free. 

Give me peace in the shade of a swaying palm tree.

I Had A Dream

I think I had a dream or a vision

Or maybe I saw it on the television

They were rioting in the streets again

When will the poor people learn they’ll never win

The police shot another unarmed black kid

One side is full of contrition

One side stands by its convictions

It’s only when the fights begin

The people start to understand

They have no voice and they never did

It seems I’m having that same dream again

I watched as the fighting and crying began

Some marched in the streets chanting hands up don’t shoot

Some yelled and encouraged to burn and to loot

The police shot another unarmed black kid

One side demands justice for all

One side stands above the law

Until they’re made to pay for their sin

And look past the color of their skin

People will rise, the light of peace will be hid

I heard a great man say I have a dream

He tried to tell the people what it means

Tried to teach and preach the path of peace

Ushered in equality and sweet release

Then the police shot another unarmed black kid

_____________