711 : The Sum of a Beach

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #164) presents a list of words

that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:

muffled, sizzle, back, language, numbers, single,

right, power, existence, stomping, hello, place

The Sum of a Beach.

At a time when existence is one of recurring waves of despair,

despair for our humanity, our planet, our future,

the beach is a place to put it all back in perspective.

You hear it before you see it,

Approaching it

Through the scrubby bush,

A gentle muffled noise,

Like cellophane scrunching,

Then silence.

Again the noise, 

Then silence.

Labouring through 

Loose dry sand

You trudge on, 

Until the scene 

Opens before you.

A broad expanse of sand,

With waves breaking along it.

Children, running to and fro,

Squealing with delight,

Racing in and out of the water,

Building sand castles

With tunnels 

And moats,

And stomping on them 

To the delight 

Or sometimes 

Dismay 

Of the budding architects.

Laughter, the common language.

Dogs, wet and excited,

Rush up to say “hello”

Then gallop off to chase

Flocks 

Of disdainful gulls,

Or balls,

Or children,

Or each other,

Running right into the waves

And galloping out again,

Dripping both salty water

And the foamy 

Slobber of excitement.

Seaweed in long strands,

Like strings of pearls,

Litter the high tide line.

Cuttlefish bones,

In numbers 

To numerous to count,

Litter the sand,

Like so many 

Abandoned surfboards.

The crazy kaleidoscope of beach life:

Hats, zinc cream, ice-cream, 

Parents in whatever shade they can find, 

The well tanned and the well cooked, 

The sizzle of the BBQs, 

The swimmers bobbing in the water, 

The surfers wobbling towards the shore, 

A single yacht, far out on the horizon, 

Appears frozen in time and space, 

But probably isn’t.

All the while

The waves,

With a understated power,

Break and retreat.

Break and retreat.

The rhythm of life.

.

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© J Cosmo Newbery 2014

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