It was as if I had suddenly awoken from a long and restless sleep,
and knew, for the first time, exactly where I was. The smooth, perfect
roundness of the pebbles, the raucous, clattering clamour of the
gulls,
the blinding glitter of the sun on the water, and your slender silhouette,
achingly poised between the stainless blue of the sky, and the shimmering
bright silver of the sea. And my heart jolted in my chest as I saw,
revealed,
what it was I had been allowed to do. My breath caught in me as
I was
carried on the flood of that new understanding. For I had reached
up
and plucked a star from the bright, crowded heavens; to have as
my own,
to hold close. A quiet light, a beacon, to nurture and care for,
to protect
and cherish; and the chance to redeem every wrong of my worthless
life
inside the breakwater of your arms. I was humbled by this gift.
Unable to
speak, hardly able to breathe, I lay back against the reassuring
warmth
of the stones and closed my eyes. The sun hot on my face, you, rocking
against my harboured heart; and the sound of the waves, brushing
their
gentle rhythm, on the shore where I had just been born.
