This poem was contributed by Rosie Rendueles a member of the Old Homosassa Heritage Council and the treasurer of the Homosassa River Alliance.  Rosie wrote that  “even though the poem is about Boca Ciega Bay, Gulfport, Pinellas County, it could be for any river, lake or any waterway in Florida.”

The Bay

I stand and gaze across the bay  
I played in as a child.   
When all there was to look at  
Were endless miles of sea and sky 

I stand where once my forebears stood, 
their footprints long years gone. 
But sad voices whisper with the wind 
as I see what has been done.  

Now I gaze across the bay  
And no longer see God’s hand,  
for man has wrought his mighty fist 
And dredged up miles of endless sand. 

That dredging blocked the tidal flows 
And destroyed spawning ground.  
So many species I recall  
are nowhere to be found.  

I see now giant tombstone there,
tall buildings filled with wealth,        
those “condos” built on stolen sand,
and the dying bay endangers health.

My grandfather said that someday,
When a mighty storm attacks,
that land the sea was robbed of
the sea will claim all back.

I do not wish for mighty storms
with destruction so implied,
but I believe the day will come
when it will be as prophesied.

Perhaps someday my progeny
will view this with their eyes,
and all they’ll have to look at
will be endless miles of sea and sky.

Audrey Fussell Squire 

(This is about Boca Ciega Bay, Gulfport, Pinellas County, FL.  The bay I grew up on)