I'm still a couple of weeks behind in my postings, but I haven't written as much as I did when I was in Madrid.  (You all realize that was like twenty pages of crapola from there?  Wowzers.)

--

17 Apr 2008.  4:02pm.

The blessed sea spray splashes on my toes, washing away the sand and stealing my breath in its chill.

Oh, how I missed her.

Though it's a cold, clammy day, I can't help myself.  I dive in, eager to be enveloped by her again.  She's freezing but enticing, like a black widow in her allure and strength over me.  She's gorgeous, but she seems to suck the life out of me.

Yet I press forward, stroke after stroke, further into her icy embrace.  A thought flashes across my mind - something rather silly, but my mind works it around for a few moments.

It's funny how in most places where Spanish is spoken, the sea is called el mar.  But not on the coasts.  On the coast she is la mar, the life-giving mother, the enticing lover, so utterly and thoroughly female that to think of her otherwise is almost unnatural.

I swim for a couple of hours, out from the beach and around the craggy point, almost reaching the twin beach on the other side of the city before turning back.  She soaks into my skin, seeps into my bones, joins with me.

I'm hers once again.