The Forest Changed

From the book Syzygy (2020)

The forest changed

But slower

Than the ocean shore

Recognizable for long

Stints of time

You are like the ocean

Your personality makes

So that I do not

         Really know you

The ebb and flow of tides

Shaped you strangely

Reviews

[bubbafreesnake]

Reading The Forest Changed, I have the feeling of an infinite inscrutability in time and space of a situation and a lover, described or created in terms of the natural world, the landscape of the ocean and its shore. A very enjoyable reading experience, by the way, great poem.

[Brad Dehler]

Thank you very much. I really appreciate your take on this, unique and inspiring!

[Curly Grace]

Love the contrast here, the forest holding steady while the ocean keeps shifting. That turn toward “you are like the ocean” feels quietly powerful. Really enjoyed this.

[Brad Dehler]

Thank you thank you! I am thrilled you enjoyed this one. Much appreciated Sarah!

[Curly Grace]

My Pleasure, Brad

[Brad Dehler]

My pleasure, Sarah :)

[Mysilentembrace]

Your metaphor here, brad! That idea that someone shifts like the ocean. I was even thinking that with all the vastness or depths they may be harder to comprehend. Well done!

[Brad Dehler]

Thank you! Always great hearing from you. I am trying to impress :)

[redd Brick Keshner]

Now this feels like a meditation on the tempo of change, like how some transformations are almost imperceptible, while others are in constant flux. The forest, holding its shape for “long stints of time,” becomes a counterpoint to the ocean’s restless, reshaping energy. Then the shift into “You are like the ocean” lands with a kind of bittersweet recognition: familiarity wrapped in mystery, the way someone’s essence can keep revealing itself yet never be entirely mapped. The line “I do not really know you” reads less as a failure and more as an admission of awe; that strangeness shaped by tides isn’t meant to be fully contained. There’s a quiet power in leaving the reader with that unresolved distance, like standing at the edge where the forest meets the shore, watching both hold their own pace.

[Brad Dehler]

Thank you sir for your strong insights. I really appreciate it. Yes, leaving the reader with the unresolved distance. And both holding their own pace. Well said.

[Fabian G. Franklin]

If the sea were a woman, relentless inside with her typhoons and hurricanes and restless waves, there still might be hope, I've heard of a man in the moon.

[Brad Dehler]

I really like that. Well put Mr Fabian. Yes, there would definitely be hope. And... that moon causing the waves...

[Kristina Yoder]

I love the metaphor comparison and the delicate weaving of them both.

[Brad Dehler]

Thank you very much! Good hearing from you

[Betty Hermelee]

This is a lovely metaphoric piece showing us how the ebb and flow of the tides and and the ocean are like the spirit, the physicality and the personality of this person who changes so much that he/she is not recognizable;" The ebb and flow of tides shaped you strangely"....
Thank you for sharing
Warmly, B

[Brad Dehler]

Astute assessment Betty- thank you very much! So mercurial we are....

[Betty Hermelee]

yes we are!
you are very welcome Brad😊
Warmly, B

[R J Askew]

I like this. It rings true to me.

[Brad Dehler]

Thank you sir!

[emmajoygreen]

No matter the fervent belief that life can hold on indefinitely, comes a time when the planet is top-tilted on its own axis and the harvest's not for reaping. Is the same with the ocean.. it moves inecessantly but forever holds its own precious magic.

[Brad Dehler]

Thank you kindly. That is interesting indeed, forever "holds its own precious magic". You got it