Our Aquatic Overseer

It appears benevolent and protective, a liquid heavy blanket.

Container ships and tug boats,
ferries and sailboats
continuously cut across the bay,
some moving nearly imperceptibly,
creating a steady ebb and flow.

Despite the boats' maneuverings,
there's something static 
about the bay.

View of San Francisco Bay from atop Potrero Hill.

Regardless of erratic 
and sometimes inclement weather
above it, thick fog one day
and brilliant blue sky the next,
fast moving high clouds,
land-hugging marine layers,
cold, damp summer days 
and unexpectedly warm winter ones,
there's an underlying stasis
and calmness about the bay.

Flat, slow, and patient in places, 
treacherous and unpredictable in others,
it doesn't appear to move much,
but its modest movements
modulate all around it,  
like an inaudible aquatic metronome.

It doesn't really rise and fall,
not all that much, 
or doesn't appear to 
from up here,
up on the hills 
surrounding it.

Looking down on it,
it appears benevolent
and protective, 
actively caring 
for everyone and everything around it,
a liquid blanket,
heavy and comforting.