Sssh – Rolf Jacobsen

Fay Adams — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 20:22:41 +0000

Sssh the sea says
Sssh the small waves at the shore say, sssh
Not so violent, not
So haughty, not
So remarkable,
Sssh
Say the tips of the waves
Crowding around the headland’s
Surf. Sssh
They say to people
This is our earth
Our eternity.

by Rolf Jacobsen translated by Robert Bly

When I read this poem by Norwegian poet Rolf Jacobsen and receive it into embodied presence, I initially notice something unnameable in my heart. Is it longing, heartbreak, love? Sitting with the feeling a little longer, I know that I’ve recognised a deep truth in the poem; a truth that is hollowing out all the dross from my heart to make room for love.

The primordial wild of the phenomenal world – the Ocean – speaks to me in the poem and reminds me how small I am and how humility is really the only position to take. This puts me in my place, but not in a way that feels harsh or unwelcome. It’s a gentle return to honouring the Greater Intelligence of Life (or whatever you would like to call it – God, Buddha, the Universe…) via the bridge of humility. This position is desperately necessary in our crazy world.

The suggestion is that our violent, haughty, self-aggrandising tendencies may be worn away by the constant Sssh of the waves. It’s not a pounding or thrashing of breakers, but a persistent, almost soothing Sssh which also suggests a stilling and quietening. And a taming of ego. Knowing that Jacobsen was Norwegian adds to the atmosphere around the poem for me – moody, elemental coastlines hover in my mind’s eye, the feeling of being tussled by wind and awed by magnificent vistas of sea, rock, clouds, sun.

I happily sink into this humble, quiet place and find my heart bursts with love to be there. How strange that from the point of view of the day-to-day hussle of life we might resist this humbling, when actually it is such a beautiful place to land up at! It feels like deep belonging and soft opening. It even has a tinge of romance to it. Perhaps this is the longing that the mystics-of-old wrote of (Rumi, Hafiz), the longing and devotion for the Beloved. Perhaps the ocean is like the Beloved, a Vast Powerful Awakener, inviting us home to union with all Life.

Ps. Join us at the end of May for the next Mindfulness Meets Mystical Poetry course where we’ll reflect from embodied presence, on a diverse range of poems that connect us to our humanity, our deep intelligence and to something altogether vaster. Are you curious get to know your own particular responses to poems and where they might transport you to?

Photo by Bernhard on Unsplash

Fear – Kahlil Gibran

Kristine Mackenzie-Janson — Wed, 05 Aug 2020 10:55:16 +0000

It is said that before entering the sea
a river trembles with fear.

She looks back at the path she has traveled,
from the peaks of the mountains,
the long winding road crossing forests and villages.

And in front of her,
she sees an ocean so vast,
that to enter
there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.

But there is no other way.
The river can not go back.

Nobody can go back.
To go back is impossible in existence.

The river needs to take the risk
of entering the ocean
because only then will fear disappear,
because that’s where the river will know
it’s not about disappearing into the ocean,
but of becoming the ocean.

Khalil Gibran

I always appreciate poems being sent to me and while they might not always immediately appear in this collection (the poem drifting to the top in any given week is a many-factored process), this one simply did. Khalil Gibran is an interesting ‘writer, poet and visual artist’ by any account, and as I only knew him from reading his book ‘The Prophet’ a long time ago, I enjoyed reading up on his life and art in the extensive Wikipedia file about him.

The poem probably stood out for me as it arrived in the middle of the Mindfulness for Life Summer Retreat – where we did a fair bit of practice around the theme of resting and space. I noticed once again how upping the amount of practice in my days in this retreat context, even though it was at home through zoom rather than on the beautiful Holy Isle, really made a difference to the level of settledness and presence I experienced. Retreats are amazing! But there’s also that little bit of habitual resistance before the surrender into that space – I’m so used to my stories and busyness and control attempts, that the unknown of a fuller letting go can feel almost a bit daunting. Yet, perhaps like the river discovers in each moment, it’s so worth it…

PS. If you’d like to experiment with what spaciousness and resting might be waiting for you as soon as you stop, why not join one of our in-depth mindfulness courses to find out together with others…

Photo by Aaron Doucett on Unsplash

ocean Archives - Mindfulness Association

Sssh – Rolf Jacobsen

Fear – Kahlil Gibran