‘Come forth into the light of things, let Nature be your teacher’
(William Wordsworth)
THE BEGINNING
The Earth began.
From dust grew trees. From trees sprang sustenance. From sustenance evolved life.
Trees…Mountains…Flora…Fauna…Sky…Water…Earth…
Yes, it all began.
THE OCEAN
‘Ocean: A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man- who has no gills.’
(Ambrose Bierce)
The Ocean lazily stretched Her liquid arms, complacent in Her solitude. She drank in the sights around Her. In the far distance, beyond the Beyond, was a hazy silhouette of craggy Cliffs, but all that the Ocean saw was clouds.
She smiled.
She liked it like this.
Dappled sunbeams bounced off Her foamy waves…a curious fish or an occasional crustacean attached itself to the skirt of Her frothy cloak; minding its business, glancing shyly at the Ocean but never attempting to communicate. She was free to advance, to retreat…to flow where She pleased, at the pace that She desired.
Yes…
She liked it like this.
Seasons came.
Seasons left.
Time befriended the Ocean.
And as always, Nothingness embraced Her.
Until…
THE ROCK
‘It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.’
(Frederick Douglass)
The Ocean surged forward and gasped at what She saw.
The Rock arose out of the Earth- new, tall, gleaming, bold, proud Earth Rock.
‘See something you like?’ He grinned arrogantly.
The Ocean froze. She hadn’t heard any other voice apart from Her own in several centuries.
She liked how it sounded.
She touched the Rock, hesitant…then bold.
The Rock laughed. The Ocean smiled shyly.
And Then…
THE OCEAN AND THE ROCK
‘Where there is love there is life’
(Mahatma Gandhi)
Seasons came.
Seasons left.
Time felt abandoned.
The Rock and the Ocean was all that mattered.
She encircled Him with Her frothy goodness. Her gentle waters lapped around- sometimes quiet, sometimes feisty. They teased, played, explored, cared, shared.
And They loved.
The Rock was now in the middle of the Ocean. Her heart, her core…Ocean Rock.
Nothing else mattered.
Beyond the Beyond, clouds obscured the Cliffs.
But then…
THE CHANGE
‘And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom’
(Anais Nin)
‘OUCH!’
The Ocean, rudely awakened from a deep slumber, stared at the Rock in shock.
‘Why would you do that?’ She sloshed a healing wave over the liquid dent in Her arm and stared in confusion at a sharp stone floating past.
The Rock chuckled…threw another…and another…
Playful…hurtful.
Salted tears merged with salted waves. ‘Why?’ Her voice small, hurt.
‘Because I can.’ The Rock flipped another stone at the confused Ocean. ‘We’re new…we’re strong…we rule this world, you and I. It’s fun!’
The Ocean retracted Her waters a little, seeking refuge within Herself. ‘But…you’re new…I’m old…older…it hurts…I don’t do that to you. So why?’
The Rock stared hard at nothing. ‘I don’t like it when you sleep…I want your every minute to myself. I hate it when you retract from me and disappear for hours…’
‘But I only go to see if there’s anything else out there…and I always come back’, the Ocean’s confusion mounted.
The Rock flung another stone at the Ocean. His aim was true. ‘And do you see anything…anyone?’
‘I see nothing but you!’ The Ocean sobbed.
Do you…do you not…love me anymore?’ She held Her breath…aching…hoping.
The Rock softened…expelled a heavy sorrowed sigh, ‘I have loved before…and…I have lost.’
The Ocean melted, unfurled Her waves around Him.
The Rock leaned into Her. ‘I loved again…and lost again. But now I’ve found you…please don’t lose me?’
The Ocean wrapped Him tighter in liquid warmth. She gazed with unseeing eyes at the clouds that flitted past the Cliffs beyond the Beyond.
‘I see nothing but you.’
And for a while They existed in complicated harmony.
The Rock…The Ocean…one world…short-lived complicated harmony.
Until…
THE NEGOTIATION
‘She stood in the storm and when the wind did not blow her away she adjusted her sails’
(Elizabeth Edwards)
The Rock was angry. The Ocean was confused.
‘Am I not worthy enough for you?’ demanded He.
‘I dove into the depths of myself and found these rare oysters for you…does not that tell you what you mean to me?’ pleaded She.
‘It doesn’t…I want all of you…you hold something back. I want it all! Every drop!’ The Rock turned His back on the Ocean.
Hard…cold…unrelenting punishment.
The Ocean gazed all around the Rock and beyond. Her waters stretched on every side…surrounding Him…caressing Him...
She begged softly, ‘what more can I give you…I have encircled you in my world…the creatures in my world have become yours…there are no secrets…no unfinished beginnings…only YOU!’
Beyond the Beyond, the silhouetted Cliffs peered through the clouds.
Nothing but hard…cold…unrelenting punishment.
The Ocean’s confusion was replaced by desperate sorrow.
She begged of the Rock. ‘I don’t know your world…show me…take me there…let me know you as you know me…no secrets…no unfinished beginnings.’
Hard. Cold. Unrelenting punishment.
Then…
The Rock whispered. ‘ I love you…I love you…I love you! But the only way I know how to make you love me is to hurt you...the only way. Forgive me but it’s all I know.’
And only the Crustaceans that clung to His craggy surface heard his tortured plea…to be loved beyond loving, to be understood beyond understanding.
The Ocean shrank within Herself. All she heard was silence, but Her gentle waves still touched the Rock…ever hopeful.
However…
THE STORM
‘Until you are broken, you don’t know what you are made of’
(Anon)
Rumbling laughter competed with the Thunder.
Mermaids. Old…new…lusty…beguiling…deceiving…Poseidon’s Sirens, surrounded the Rock.
The Ocean froze.
Her eyes met His.
Hard. Cold. Unrelenting punishment.
The Rock tickled a Mermaid and chuckled at the Ocean, ‘Don’t believe what you see…this isn’t really real.’
‘But it is…’ The Ocean wept sorrowed tears…bitter tears.
Angry tears.
The Rock glanced coldly at the Ocean. ‘You had your time…your fun before Me. This time is mine!’
He shared with the Mermaid the rare oysters given to Him by the Ocean. They frolicked on the Ocean’s heart.
Hard. Cold. Unrelenting punishment.
The clouds burst through the thunder. A thousand liquid needle- points pierced the Ocean’s anguish.
Beyond the Beyond, Lightning split the Sky, briefly illuminating the Cliffs.
And finally…
The Ocean was enraged. Her waves boiled and foamed. She unleashed Herself upon the Rock…drowned over Him relentlessly.
The Rock ignored it all. He enveloped a Mermaid…several Mermaids, and threw a sharp stone at the Ocean for old times sake.
Sorrow…bitter rage…distorted confusion. The Ocean lashed out at everything around Her. Fish, crustaceans, coral, seaweed- nothing withstood Her sorrowed rage.
Her waters retracted, She moaned hoarsely, ‘I won’t encircle You anymore!’
Still, a few tendrils of Her waves clung to the Rock.
The Rock challenged Her…mocked Her… disbelieved Her.
She held strong, ‘I’ll shrink myself into Nothingness so I can’t encircle You anymore!’
The Ocean retracted completely, Her waters ebbing away from the Rock.
‘No! Come back!’
The Wind dispersed the dried up Mermaids and the Rock’s contrite pleas.
‘Please…come…back’, wept the distraught Rock.
His crevasses withered…widened…crumbled.
He whispered hoarsely into the silent Night, ‘I always loved You…I just didn’t know how to make You love me’.
The Ocean dared a backwards glance. Her waters had shrunk so no more tears could trickle through.
She wept within.
For the once upon a time happiness.
For the embracing warmth of loving and being loved.
For the knowledge of not being the only one in the World.
For the fun, frolic and fantasy of an everlasting Tomorrow.
For a reason to expand Her waters and be all that She could be for Him.
And finally…
For the empty space where He had once stood. New, tall, gleaming, bold, proud- now a pile of crumbling gravel.
‘Forgive me?’ His plea lingered behind Her as the Rock dissipated into Nothingness.
A Tomorrow that never met Today.
Broken dreams…
Broken love…
Simply broken.
‘Forgive me too’. The Ocean forced Her way towards the Beyond.
And in Her wake, She left tear trails of destruction.
THE JOURNEY- PART ONE
‘I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m on my way’
(Carl Sogan)
Undulating Sand Dunes leered as the Ocean crawled Her way through Them. Scorching Desert Sand leapt onto Her straggling liquid cloak. Mocking…teasing…hurting.
Bits of cloak ripped away, gulped down by the greedy Sand.
Cacti inhaled Her shredded tears and spawned brightly coloured flowers.
The Ocean grew leaner…weaker. She gathered what was left of Herself and ploughed on towards beyond the Beyond. The Cliffs- Her beacon.
And in the Desert, an Oasis- bountiful and a salvation to future travelers- came to be. An unintended tribute…blood-price…from the runaway Ocean.
THE JOURNEY- PART TWO
‘In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer’
(Albert Camus)
The Icebergs gazed haughtily as the Ocean ploughed through chunks of frozen liquid. Deep cold silence as dregs of Her Soul slipped away and joined the frigid voyeurs.
The Ocean heaved what was left of Herself out of the icy stillness. She was now little more than a stream.
A trickle of Life.
A rivulet of Pain.
A whispered desire to survive it all.
The Cliffs of Beyond glimmered through the clouds surrounding Him whilst the shrunken Ocean meandered at crossroads with Herself. Stoic…silent…hardened…weather-worn Cliffs.
Beyond the Beyond Cliffs.
The Ocean stared at the stark cold Whiteness behind Her. A chunk of Herself had betrayed Her…frozen over…joined the other Icebergs in their cold silent vigil. Tall…imposing…statuesque…a large piece of Her Soul gazed back defiantly, unwilling to let go of what It had become; an Iceberg that would prove to be a death trap for thousands of Humans who would evolve over the centuries.
An Oasis. An Iceberg.
As much as She gave life, The Ocean also claimed it.
The exhausted Ocean examined Her diminished self. ‘I’m tired…so very tired…should I?’
She longed to give in. To give up the last shred of Her Soul to the Bergs. To end this futile escape, but to where?
Something stirred within Her straggly folds. A little Fish wriggled feebly…bravely defying Death.
The Ocean was surprised. How could anything survive Her journey? ‘Must I live for you little Fish?’
The Fish gazed deep into the remnants of the Ocean’s Soul.
The Ocean sighed wearily. ‘ I must live for you.’
They crept on towards the Beyond. The Ocean and the Fish. Combining their strength…their will…their desire for something more than static existence, they crept on.
THE CLIFFS
‘The mountains are calling and I must go.’
(John Muir)
Nurturer…Protector…Healer…Provider of Refuge. The Ocean had gathered an assortment of aquatic creatures along Her journey. With time, some creatures drifted away as Her waters depleted further. Others evolved into Terrestrials, and accompanied Her by land and air, till they could no more.
And some, like the loyal little Fish- now bigger and older- suffered the Ocean’s trials, and cheered Her flagging spirit until finally, She encountered a rocky earthy barrier, too large to flow through or over.
And there, a decade to reach where She had, the Ocean rested her journey worn waters…at the foot of the Cliffs.
THE OCEAN AND THE CLIFFS
‘Come live in my heart, and pay no rent.’
(Samuel Lover)
The Cliffs watched over Her as She slept. The once mighty Ocean, now a pathetic curled up stream. The Cliffs felt a forgotten something stir deep inside His core. His craggy arms gently encircled the Ocean…barely touching…securing Her so she didn’t trickle out.
And then…
‘Ohhh!’
The Ocean gaped at the Cliffs through a fatigued haze. Mighty…Powerful…Battle-scarred Cliffs, more ancient than Herself.
The Ocean was humbled and a little ashamed of Her depleted appearance.
‘I didn’t mean to encroach’, She gathered her meager waters and prepared to leave.
‘You didn’t’. The Cliff’s gruff tone was indifferent. Gentle.
The Ocean gazed curiously up at Him. Something deeper- a forgotten memory- quelled Her departure.
‘What are you?’ She whispered. ‘I know you…somehow.’
The forgotten something stirred inside the Cliffs again. He looked away from the Ocean. ‘I am what you see…nothing more…nothing less.’
Battle-scarred Cliffs who remembered everything.
His gaze softened. ‘ I know you too…somehow.’
The Ocean surveyed Her surroundings whilst the creatures She succored, clung to the withered folds of Her cloak. The Cliffs formed a crescent around Her. She could be safe. She could expand…grow stronger…and then leave.
‘May I…may I stay…a short while?’
‘You may stay.’ Forgotten stirrings tugged at the Cliffs’ core.
‘And then I could leave?’
‘You could leave’, agreed the Cliffs. Relief.
The Ocean gently caressed the creatures bobbing amidst Her.
‘Okay then.’
‘Okay then.’
The Ocean smiled to Herself. She recognized relief. Relief from pain…relief from conquest…relief from Love and all that destroyed it.
TIME HEALS ALL
‘When the Root is deep, there is no Reason to fear the Wind’
(Anonymous)
Seasons came.
Seasons left.
The Ocean was at peace.
The Cliffs was at peace.
And the creatures within the Ocean thrived and multiplied. The Ocean had grown from a Stream to a Cove, safely nestled within the arms of the Cliffs. And as her waters spread, She often felt the urge to seep beyond the encircling Cliffs and explore the Nothing that She didn’t yet know.
One day…
‘What do you see up there?’ The Ocean was pensive.
The Cliffs looked up at the sky. ‘Clouds.’
‘And beyond the clouds?’
‘Sky? Nothing…I see what I can see.’
The Cliffs was amused at the Ocean’s need to see more than could be seen.
And the Ocean was eager to show the Cliffs that there could be more than what He could see.
‘ Perhaps…but don’t you think that there could be Life beyond the clouds…that Someone or Something made us all?’
The Cliffs stiffened. The Ocean’s questions unnerved Him…upset the unchanging balance in His life.
‘Someone and Something didn’t make me. I was a pile of mud and stones. I battled storms, earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, tornados…I made Me…I am what I am because of Me. And there is nothing beyond the Clouds.’
The Ocean caressed His battle weary face with Her silky liquid arm. ‘But how do you know?’
Bruised weariness.
‘I just do.’
And then…
‘Will you miss me if I leave?’ The Ocean held Her breath, shocked at her own boldness.
The Cliff was puzzled. ‘I don’t miss…what is it?’
‘It means that when I leave, I won’t be here anymore.’
‘I understand.’ The Cliff felt a small pain deep in His core. ‘You won’t be here because you will be elsewhere…I understand.’
‘Okay then...’
The Ocean reluctantly prepared Her waters and the creatures residing within it.
‘Okay then’, reluctantly replied the Cliff. ‘Although…’
The Ocean paused…
‘Although… you could stay a bit…to get stronger for your journey beyond.’
The Ocean smiled gratefully. ‘I could do that.’
‘You could.’
Forgotten stirrings now remembered. And hope rekindled.
‘Okay then.’
‘Okay then.’
Familiar peace. Peace that stayed.
And so did the Ocean.
She stayed a long time.
A very long time.
‘ Faith makes all things possible…Love makes all things easy.’
(Dwight L.Moody)