Unhindered, they roll from South America,
Swells traversing three vast oceans
To crash upon the cliffs of this
small island.
Unhindered, southwards, the great
rolling sea
Stretches far beyond the distant horizon
To Antarctica’s glistening whiteness.
Unhindered, the salt-laden wind blows
Unceasingly over the huddling
heathland.
This is a wild, remote, windswept
beauty.
Beneath the cliffs and above the
surge,
At least on this clear, mild, late
spring day,
Are crevassed platforms and a
beautiful arch,
A great curving expanse leading to a
pool
Of sheltered, exquisite transparency.
Everywhere the fur seals bask in the
sun,
Argue over position, laze in the
clear pool
Or clamber awkwardly towards the sea.
They are protected, contented and
safe
In the place where once men with
clubs
Cruelly hunted them to near
extinction.
In one place, where the sea is most
dangerous,
A narrow, steep cleft where the
surging swell
Is a rush and retreat of foam- filled
water,
A place to quickly perish upon unforgiving
rocks,
Two young seals play with abandoned
pleasure.
Out of the foaming surge they
momentarily appear
In tangled somersault, roll and
wrestle.
They are in no hurry to leave. In adrenalin-filled
joy
They breach, surge, wrestle and dive
again and again.
They are young, joyous and unafraid
And I think of the delight of toddlers
In a playground, the joy of swing and
dip,
Or a child’s delight in climbing a
tree,
Save this playground makes me feel
inadequate,
A weak, thin-skinned, vulnerable
being,
And my heart opens to these soft-eyed
creatures,
For this is no carefully constructed
safe zone
But the immense, cold, surging,
cliff-pounding sea.
-Admiral’s Arch, Flinders Chase National Park, Kangaroo Island.
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| Two young seals at play. |
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| Admiral's Arch |
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| Seals lazing on a rock platform |
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| Towards Admiral's Arch |
