Sunday 10 February 2013

I love the sea



I love walking along deserted beaches where the ocean talks to you alone and the sea birds swoop down to join you and bathe in the shallows keeping an eye on you as well as their companions especially in the breeding season when their exaggerated courting actions will include opening their beaks wide and raising their plumes to impress the lucky lady.

And so it was this late spring day where alone, free from owners with dogs and balls I had found a resting place and sat quietly drinking from a bottle of water and perusing the endless push and pull of the sea trying to make it’s mind up whether it should tease me with an advance or hurry back to keep her distance.

Far off I could see her in a more boisterous mood as she roared angrily over the coral reef well out of my reach. In the sky wheeling and playing together there were a pair of birds swooping low now over the spume, then up high again winging their way to heaven in a dance of love for the other and for life so I thought. Suddenly one dived into the sea and caught a fish and returned to his mate and their romantic play continued as the fish was passed from one to the other.

It was then that I noticed they each had a black plume on their heads and I nodded approval, Crested Terns I surmised. Not rare but a welcome sight none-the-less. I waved foolishly to acknowledge that I had seen them.  “Not another human” they would no doubt think and ignore such as incident as most of our actions probably were.

I wandered on again facing into the breeze knowing that unwittingly she too would help me on my way back later. The crabs scuttled in and out the water tempted by rotting titbits at the seas edge and shellfish would announce their presence spitting water from their shell. Despite the dryness of the weather, being so close the waves the sea’s constant watch on me meant the air was full of moisture.

She had finally come to terms with me being by her side now and somehow seemed to accept that my love of her would mean I would tell of the wonderful thread of life that existed in and around her and how much that meant to me.

And so I have.

17 comments:

  1. You really brought her to life!

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  2. The images here so rich and vivid I'm wiping salt sorry from my face and itching to put your words into a poem :)

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  3. That should have read "salt SPRAY" IPAD enjoys editing at will! I won't let it stand :)

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  4. Oh, I think Pearl should have left the phrase "salt sorry" in her comment. It's delightfully whimsical!

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  5. Beautifully written! Now you make me all the more anxious for our upcoming visit to the Atlantic coast at the end of April! There is no place where better solitude can be found!

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  6. As lyrical a piece of prose as I'm ever likely to read. It made me long for the shore.

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  7. thanks for sharing your oneness with the sea. it was beautiful.

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  8. I enjoyed reading what you have written about the water's edge...many memories sheltered there for me.

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  9. A very nice evocation of the sea and love indeed.

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  10. I have no sea to walk along, just the edge of my creek. And when I do I shall hear whispers of the sea...

    Thanks for your visit to both of my wordles. I always have fun to see (or to sea) where the words will take me.

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  11. You described your experience so well I almost felt I was there with you. I like that the sea was she and that she accepted your walking beside her.

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  12. Old Egg, as others have said, this is lovely and whimsical. Good prose writing, sir.

    Pamela

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  13. You write for many of us who love the sea and shore and only want to return again. Thank you,

    Elizabeth
    http://soulsmusic.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/wordle-95/

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  14. Wow. You've captured how I feel about the Gulf of Mexico on the Alabama coast. Lovely.

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  15. This is beautifully written, and she, so accurately portrayed. I can only think of Montauk Beach at the tip of Long Island. It's always been my favorite place.

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  16. I'm a week behind in my wordling...but am so glad i took the time to stop by. As always, I got lost within the words of your story. Such a lovely read.

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