'Was I waiting for something?': A reading and reflection on the poem 'Sea-watching' by R.S.Thomas

Sea-watching by R.S.Thomas

Grey waters, vast

as an area of prayer

that one enters. Daily,

over a period of years

I have let the eye rest on them.

Was I waiting for something?

Nothing

but that continuous waving

that is without meaning

occurred.

Ah, but a rare bird is

rare. It is when one is not looking,

at times one is not there

that it comes.

You must wear your eyes out,

as others their knees.

I became the hermit

of the rocks