All Dissolving in the Gentle Sea

All Dissolving in the Gentle Sea

8 february 2019

 jp

Once upon a time

In a haze of Caribbean blue

I walked upon a beach

Hand in hand

Seaweed swept in to our feet swaying dance and soft crackling from our footsteps.

We were anywhere, a getaway resort, meaningless and ubiquitous poolside margaritas

An anesthetic we sought, anonymous

Where odd conversations bubbled up about other times and places

Over breakfast coffee a bride’s mother chats about her husband’s ashes

Reincarnated in an island’s flowers, around which sweeps forever the Ottawa River

Over breakfast coffee a groom’s mother chats about nuclear waste and weaponry

Wondering aloud of sons daughters grandchildren travel stories memories

And aching knees “if I am around much longer”.

And we turn and watch across the cavernous lobby, cool moist breeze

A tiny red car pulls up and out stretches a tall grey haired wide hipped woman

Her bags valise luggage quickly unloaded by the concierge

And the driver of the car, petite woman, leaps out, keys dangling in hand passed over to valet

Her glasses sunglasses green rimmed praying mantis sized:

“Suzanne!”

“Shelagh!”

A vortex of energy focused for seconds bride groom mothers swept up and in…

And the moment melts in flows of bodies and dappling sunlight on the trees outside

Where we all come together

From a web of space knit into another web inside another web

Webs of hundreds of webs of thousands…

I walked hand in hand again upon a beach

The sand between our toes and salty water on our skin

Sun soft soothing kissing as I kissed you wet lips reaching up towards mine

Gentle wash of water bathing around our feet and tumbling fragments of conch shell glittering

In the immediate all present impassioned sense of floating

Dissolved inside the gentle sea and swash of time.