Emerald Isle, North Carolina

by Gina Dawkins-Nekota
(Colorado Springs, CO, USA)

Emerald Isle in Nortth Carolina is the only place I feel my mother's presence. My childhood summers would have been sorely defective without the one week vacation every summer to the 'Crystal Coast.'

This poem was written the first time I visited Emerald Isle following my mother's death. This is in memory of her, Nellie Edwards-Dawkins, my Mom.

Your crystal coast gleams
with the spumous whiteness of its falling waters,
a ruffled mist cascading like a mantilla bride veil.
I walk along the water’s edge,
white sand soft as talc
succumbs to the weight of my burden.
Each step I take is deliberate,
yet, so uncertain.
Placidly, your light wind
births a faithful breath of sea mist
and evergreen,
and all at once eternity falls,
settling freely
upon my open hand.
Cradled gently in an oracle of peace
I cannot understand,
I listen to the subdued trundling
of your breaking waters,
and you speak to me in whispers…
of only love.

Gina Dawkins-Nekota 2006

When you visit Emerald Isle, you leave something soulful of yourself behind...and you can only reclaim it upon your return.