Sea

We wake early for the drive towards the sea

Pack everything into our small car until it’s full to burst while the sun is still pink

And set off to the coast.

 

In the high hills we spot the thin,

Bright flash of blue on the horizon

Compete to be the first to shout

That we can see the sea.

 

The salt wind tastes

Like home and travel

And as we race over the mounting dunes,

The sand grass waving in the wind like breath

I think –

 

If I could die

Any place, any time

It would be here

 

Under the white sea foam

With my eyes green and cloudy

And my lungs full of salt

 

But not today –

Today I feel alive as I have ever been

With the sea air and sea water and sea foam and sea weed

And my pulse in my ears the same rhythm as the water around me.

The tides of blood and water, for a time, keeping time

With the same salt and the same moon –

Its blue mouth cannot swallow me today

 

I should have been a mermaid

With scales and tail and underwater breath

And long hair billowing in clouds.

But I would never sell my tail or my voice for a man

Although I may

Become sea foam one day.

[Clare Patterson –@clurrpatterson]