Turning, I suppose, is the word for reaching the age of sixty-three today, for 

while walking alone the Sea spoke in tongues, spoke in as many tongues as 

passengers on the Holland-America Line cruise ship, whom I also overheard as 

they disembarked & strolled around the city & parks & seashore, but I doubt they 

heard the Sea speak as it spoke to me in tongues about the Time before Birth. 

Long-ago gestations of cells algae amoebas eggs & myself & all of us & those to 

come. We may fret about Death, but not about the Time before Birth. The Time 

before birth the Sea said, did not hurt, nor will Death. The Sea receding in its tide 

spoke to me. The Sea beside me in my walk alone today turning sixty-three 

spoke, or sung a gentle lullaby about Time before Birth, & that it did not hurt, 

nor will Death.