Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Recalling a Walk on the Beach

                The beach is almost deserted. No human voices, no mechanical sounds, no street clatter.  Quiet.  Almost lonely.  I shuffle my feet in the dry sand, walking just above the most recent tidal high-water marks.  Even there, the water soaks my sneakers occasionally, making me more aware of the crisp October afternoon.  Lost in my thoughts, it was a while before I became aware of all of the noise around me – sounds that one did not hear in the summer when the beach was crowded with beach-combers and sun worshippers.  One by one, sounds besieged my reverie; sounds which came not as clanging trashcans would, but sounds which quiet the soul and bring peace to the spirit.
                I walked by a group of gulls blabbering to each other as they sat around their tidal pool bistro.  They reminded me of a club of little old ladies who had not had the opportunity to talk to anybody lately.  Their loneliness - and aloneness- gone, they were relishing the moments of togetherness.  Their conversation and chatter made me laugh.
                Above my head, terns were screaming delight at having narrowly missed a friend while performing acrobatics.  I am reminded of  my children when they were young, playing hard, never running out of energy, delighting in the joy of youth and of each other.  Sharing the same air space with the terns was a flock of pelicans, brown and gray, flying in formation – formal, organized, with only the rhythm of their wings revealing evidence of their adult, grown-up presence. Skimmers were raking the surf, expecting a smorgasboard but having to return over and over to find just a morsel of seafood.
                The surf commanded my attention, beating out a message of strength, controlled by some unseen power.  And then out of the water, the dolphins came into view, playing leapfrog with the waves, rising and falling and whistling to each other as they announced the joy of their adventure in the sea.  It was as if they were making fun of the waves and their force and fury.
                Around the next turn, a blue heron was cautiously pursuing his next meal, webbing his way silently through the tidal pool. And an egret stood bemired in the marshy grass, revealing his presence in the occasional splash of erupting water.
                As I turned to walk across the board-walk which traversed the tidal pools, there were crabs silently taking a crooked stroll, sidling through the rivulets of water.  Sea oats caressed the sand dunes, whispering to the wind and to the surf and to me.
                Sounds…..Silent Sounds…..Sounds which quiet the soul and bring peace to the spirit.     
                Quiet in the midst of nature’s noise!
                                  

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