Dissolving

An Arctic moment

Have you ever glided on the arctic breeze, melting into the screaming joy of birds, diving into the glassy sea and tossing crystalline droplets skyward for the sun to catch?

Or perhaps you’ve inhaled the slow breath of a glacier, holding it deep within your lungs, while imagining its luminous blue origins?

Or maybe you were entranced by the mirrored dance of sun on water, that divide between realms, the calm of which belies the turbulence below?

Or, do you know, or can you imagine, the ephemeral taste of salt dissolving on your lips and into the vastness of a land punctuated by purpled chunks of granite scraping the sky?

And those birds…

Now, can you see them fly up from the emerald swirl of water, twirling with the breeze, then diving straight and fast and true, right into the heavens?

I hope that you enjoyed this moment in time, captured in photos and memories, from the far northern realms of Norway last summer. The smoothness of the waters belies one of the biggest riptides in the world underneath the surface. These images were taken from a the back of a boat — one of those sorts where you are low to the water and have to hold on tightly with your knees to keep from toppling over (all while dressed in a snowsuit so bulky that I could barely move), which made photography slightly challenging, but the moment utterly priceless.

Sometimes at night, I close my eyes and imagine that I am there again, with the birds, skimming the glassy waters and then rising up to the purpled mountains and dissolving into the vastness of being.

I believe that to truly understand a poem, it needs to be heard. To hear the rhythm, the cadence, the emphasis, please listen to my recording of “Dissolving.”

If you enjoyed this piece, you might also like:

Another poem inspired by an Arctic moment:

A story about a dove, a sparrow, snowflakes and world peace:

Or this little poem about the bees:

Erika Burkhalter is a yogi, cat-mom, photographer, and lover of travel and nature, spreading her love and amazement for Mother Earth’s glories, one photo, poem or story at a time. (MS Neuropsychology, MA Yoga Studies).

Poem and photos ©Erika Burkhalter. All rights reserved.