<dream fragment>
Where is the sea?
Familiar salt smell
An invisible pull
Of negative ions
Grains of sand
Tumbling in the wind
Arranging lines of code
On a sun-screened body
Salty water invading platinum hair
Curls being tossed everywhere
Temporarily blinding
Hiding the sea from
Searching, gritty eyes
Where is the sea?
***
<reality>
I come to the pocket-sized beach
In winter only
No longer liking to be close to strangers
Alone, where I can dream
Green Key park on the Gulf opens at dawn
Sip coffee bought from the Burger King drive-through
Not as good as mine
But convenient, tolerable
Birds, palms, sunrise on the Gulf
I pretend it is the sea
Here, it is warm like a bathtub
Some tidal action
A bit of wave hiking up to the shoreline
Sand and negative ions
Water and fiery sun
Elemental balance
I go inward more and more each year
Feel like Hesse’s Siddhartha on the river
He, like me, can think, can wait, can fast
Well, fasting, ok, not quite there yet
But able to do the rest
Because the inner life is best…
***
© 2015 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)
IMAGE: Robert K. Rees Memorial Park
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