matriarch
Rotund retiree
- Joined
- May 25, 2003
- Posts
- 22,743
I had awoken early, my body still acclimatising to the different time zone. It was still dark, and I was restless, so climbed quietly from the unfamiliar bed, to stand looking down on the unfamiliar, but oh so familiar body sleepy deeply in the very centre of the bed, smiling at how she managed to take over the whole bed. I decided to walk to the beach and watch the sunrise, something I've always loved doing when in a new place.
As I tried to quietly drag on shorts and a teeshirt, she awoke, reaching out a hand to me, laying it on my arm, asking me quietly what was wrong.
Leaning over her, smiling, I kissed her gently, explaining nothing was wrong, I couldn't sleep, and was going to watch the sun come up on the beach, maybe take some pictures. Her clasp tightened on my arm, whispering she would come with me, and then sleepily climbed out of bed, to drag on her own clothes.
Eventually, with a mug of coffee, cigarettes and our cameras, we quietly made our way out of the lodging house, and walked hand in hand the short distance to the beach, talking in quiet whispers, not wanting to disturb the still-sleeping town.
We settled ourselves on the low wall running along the edge of the beach, looking over the still water, barely making out the small fishing boats all lined up neatly along the pier, and in the distance, along the horizon, gradually the sky began to lighten. Each time I looked away to take pictures of areas becoming more and more visible, and then looked back, it was as if someone had been working behind me, cleaning off layer after layer of darkness, the way a skilled technician cleans the canvas of an old painting. As each layer was stripped away, the colour and brilliance of what lay beneath was revealed, leaving me ever more breathless at the beauty forming before my eyes.
Slowly the sky took on hues of dark blue, coral pink, stripes growing along the sky, parallel to the sharpening horizon.
And then it happened, the sky began to burn with a ferocity that took my breath away. Each second saw more and more of the sky turning into a giant furnace. I was speechless with awe at this brilliant display, and moved from the wall to stand on the cold sand, looking directly into this wonder, could only utter the one sound, “look”.
I felt her stand close behind me; felt her arms move around me, wrapping me in her love as we watched our own private show, compliments of Mother Nature. There came a moment when the intense beauty of what we were watching overcame me, and I felt tears on my cheeks, her arms tighten around me, her cheek pressed against my hair.
We stood like that for I don’t know how long, as the fire in the clouds burned low, turned into that dullness that always happens as red hot coals cool and turn to ash. But the morning had one more surprise for us. No sooner had the sky cooled and the clouds turned to embers, than a matching brilliance began to appear, flashing out in all directions like a laser show, from the ball of liquid, shimmering gold that was now rising majestically above the horizon.
As we watched this orb rise ever upwards, lighting up everything around it, banishing shadows and darkness, I felt myself exhale slowly, turning my head to softly kiss the lips so close to my own.
Gathering up our debris, we walked silently back to our lodgings. Morning had broken.
And what a morning.
As I tried to quietly drag on shorts and a teeshirt, she awoke, reaching out a hand to me, laying it on my arm, asking me quietly what was wrong.
Leaning over her, smiling, I kissed her gently, explaining nothing was wrong, I couldn't sleep, and was going to watch the sun come up on the beach, maybe take some pictures. Her clasp tightened on my arm, whispering she would come with me, and then sleepily climbed out of bed, to drag on her own clothes.
Eventually, with a mug of coffee, cigarettes and our cameras, we quietly made our way out of the lodging house, and walked hand in hand the short distance to the beach, talking in quiet whispers, not wanting to disturb the still-sleeping town.
We settled ourselves on the low wall running along the edge of the beach, looking over the still water, barely making out the small fishing boats all lined up neatly along the pier, and in the distance, along the horizon, gradually the sky began to lighten. Each time I looked away to take pictures of areas becoming more and more visible, and then looked back, it was as if someone had been working behind me, cleaning off layer after layer of darkness, the way a skilled technician cleans the canvas of an old painting. As each layer was stripped away, the colour and brilliance of what lay beneath was revealed, leaving me ever more breathless at the beauty forming before my eyes.
Slowly the sky took on hues of dark blue, coral pink, stripes growing along the sky, parallel to the sharpening horizon.
And then it happened, the sky began to burn with a ferocity that took my breath away. Each second saw more and more of the sky turning into a giant furnace. I was speechless with awe at this brilliant display, and moved from the wall to stand on the cold sand, looking directly into this wonder, could only utter the one sound, “look”.
I felt her stand close behind me; felt her arms move around me, wrapping me in her love as we watched our own private show, compliments of Mother Nature. There came a moment when the intense beauty of what we were watching overcame me, and I felt tears on my cheeks, her arms tighten around me, her cheek pressed against my hair.
We stood like that for I don’t know how long, as the fire in the clouds burned low, turned into that dullness that always happens as red hot coals cool and turn to ash. But the morning had one more surprise for us. No sooner had the sky cooled and the clouds turned to embers, than a matching brilliance began to appear, flashing out in all directions like a laser show, from the ball of liquid, shimmering gold that was now rising majestically above the horizon.
As we watched this orb rise ever upwards, lighting up everything around it, banishing shadows and darkness, I felt myself exhale slowly, turning my head to softly kiss the lips so close to my own.
Gathering up our debris, we walked silently back to our lodgings. Morning had broken.
And what a morning.
Do you remember the Great Eclipse? Nineteen Hundred and Ninety what ever - or were we already in the Twenty o's? I remember driving like an idiot up through France out onto the Cherburg peninsular to where the map in The Times I'd bought a couple of days earlier showed the passage of the eclipse as the shadow crossed the English / French Channel (just trying to stay PC!) and skirted across the tip of the Peninsular. We got there with just a few minutes to spare and watched with almost disbelief as the sky darkened from the west and the lighthouse blinked with almost astonishment and the sky became almost dark and would have darkened completely (everyone said) if it hadn't been for the cloud cover which of course reflected light back from just outside the 'cone of darkness' where we stood - or so they said.
Well it was just like that, just like the Great Eclipse.
We went up onto the roof terrace where from a particular corner, standing on a box to peer over the roof of the new building they've just constructed, we can see across the estuary and down through the 25th April suspension bridge and out to the Atlantic in a direct line to the west from where once Vasco da Gama sailed out of a setting sun with tales of the old world and Kings sent forth brave captains in search of the new world.
It was late afternoon,
no more than five o'clock,
hours before sunset,
on a cloudless day,
and it had gone dark,
just like the Great Eclipse.
The sun hung drowning in the sky above Lisbon dulled orange when it should have scorched the eye, choking on thick black smoke drifting silently south from the Great Fires some 150Km to the north, and a whisp of smoke reached us, a dank deadly resinous smell of pine pitch that snapped the breath and watered the eyes under a sulphurous sky and we shed tears for a people once brave enough to cast themselves adrift in the world and who now seem unable to find their way home.
Well it was just like that, just like the Great Eclipse.
We went up onto the roof terrace where from a particular corner, standing on a box to peer over the roof of the new building they've just constructed, we can see across the estuary and down through the 25th April suspension bridge and out to the Atlantic in a direct line to the west from where once Vasco da Gama sailed out of a setting sun with tales of the old world and Kings sent forth brave captains in search of the new world.
It was late afternoon,
no more than five o'clock,
hours before sunset,
on a cloudless day,
and it had gone dark,
just like the Great Eclipse.
The sun hung drowning in the sky above Lisbon dulled orange when it should have scorched the eye, choking on thick black smoke drifting silently south from the Great Fires some 150Km to the north, and a whisp of smoke reached us, a dank deadly resinous smell of pine pitch that snapped the breath and watered the eyes under a sulphurous sky and we shed tears for a people once brave enough to cast themselves adrift in the world and who now seem unable to find their way home.
TxRad
Dirty Old Man
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2005
- Posts
- 45,152
Thanks Tolyk. It is one that shows the quality of write that was. Especially since it was off the top of the head so to speak.
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