Nothing compares.
Nothing better: than diving into the light.
Lift your feet from the soft ground and drive your head through the cool
and bubbling wake. The sensation is complete at any time, on any day, but today
is special. The waves are breaking rhythmically. There is a pattern to their
arrival. A music of calm and activity, like notes and rests, verse and chorus;
the ocean subduing your senses, lulling you to believe it might be tamed.
Lift your feet from the ground, jump and break the water, your eyes
closed, then open. How can the sensation be so embracing, yet gentle; strong,
yet soothing? It is a visceral reminder of the surreal properties of water, of the
unique comfort of salt and sea. But today I am surprised. Opening my eyes underwater
is not as I expect. The light is mesmerizing. An expected turbulence of froth and bubble does
not obstruct my view. Instead, rays of light pierce from sky to sand. The water
is a bright conductor, light shining brighter than I’ve ever seen it. I cannot
look away. I forget to breathe. The rays
above, before, and around me, are distinct; as you see them after rain sometimes
when an audacious sun forces its way through cloud determined to reach land, to
warm the earth which has been washed clean by unrelenting storms.
This light also emanates a united glow. I am, literally, if not originally,
bathed in light. I am a mermaid; a sailor and survivor in ancient water.
The water is still because I have timed my dive perfectly to miss the
rush overhead. The depth is a mere two metres, from shallow ocean floor to
surface, to the source of this celestial light. Is it the light of life? Does the
same light call us to death, softening the move between worlds we do not
understand? I know anyway that this kind of light is far from mundane. It is
not to be captured... only to be pursued... or waited for. It is something to
trust in.
My skin tingles. My senses leap. Forced to breathe, I quickly dive
again. The same magic awaits me. Every
individual beam of light is discernible, so too are spots of sand floating
through the water like glitter or confetti heralding a celebration. The water
is a blue so soft it merges with the golden light, sea and sun as one. Until
this moment I had always thought an early Autumn blue the purest of
colours, the closest thing to heaven. Now I feel a veil has been raised and I’ve
seen and understood a deeper truth, a combination of elements I could never
control or prescribe, and therefore all the more intoxicating. I am transfixed.
I am in love with this morning, in awe of sunlight on, through, within and
seemingly born of water. My skin is cool but my eyes and heart are afire. I am
alive in ways I was not just seconds before. I am renewed. And I know it is a
gift. I know it is a sensory experience, a discovery, I will fail to describe
but inevitably I must try. And I thank God with every cell of my being, the
cells which now feel one with the Universe, charged by a force beyond, by the
miracle and wonder of Nature.
This was my last swim in the Australian ocean, before boarding a plane
to fly to the other side of the world, a place buried deep in a different
season as the globe turns inexorably from one day, one month, one year to the
next. I’m in a new year and soon I’ll land in a new life – or an old life,
rebooted. But with me I’m taking this memory of sea and light, a sense of fresh
beginnings and an awe that can only conjure love and good spirits, when only
moments before I had felt afraid of the leaving, of again saying goodbye.
I know I’m taking that light with me. And that’s all that matters.
..................
It's nice to finally be back with my blog. Happy near year everyone!
...................
