Every Friday this summer, we're featuring the work of young writers in partnership with the Telling Room In Portland. This week, a poem by Mary McColley.
O Acadia!
By Mary McColley
O Acadia! Acadia!
Your wild, heaving sea
Broils white with foam and spray—
And ever may it be.
Like horses fueled by anger
The thunderous waves avail,
But never shall they conquer rock,
Though in tumult do they rail.
The gath’ring noise! The leaps of height!
The beauty of the foam!
Oh, surging waves, what power lies
In the moon-pull of your home.
Such shades of color as only seen
In thought, the sea puts on.
Deepening blues, and slightest greens,
And grays like stormy dawns.
The riveting cascade of ocean
Against the watered rock
Is thick and pure—and glistening—
A key to beauty’s lock.
Rain of light, of foam, don’t cease!
Your music fills the air
With orchestrated slap of stone
And breeze, from who-knows-where.
O Acadia! Acadia!
This wonder fills my mind
Such pow’r—such blues—such sky so free—
Such is God’s, not mine.
"O, Acadia!" is by Mary McColley, one of 26 students to be selected for publication in the annual anthology of the Telling Room, a non-profit writing center dedicated to the idea that children and young adults are natural story tellers.