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I was born to water
on an Island in the sea.
The surf outside the window
each night put me to sleep.
Waves against the shore
rumbled to cobbles
on the stormy coast.
The tide murmured as it passed
the red nun in the channel.
The offshore boulders
sang to the surf.
All these sounds and sights of water
are a symphony to me —
a voice that still reminds me
I’m adrift without the sea.
— Conrad Neumann (UNC Chapel Hill)