On a 2004 trip to South Africa to join a boat delivery, I visited the Cape of Good Hope. Sadly this place is rife with tour busses and so many tourists it was an in-and-out as fast as I could experience. However, about 1/2 mile before you get to the tour bus turn around there is a beach on the ‘side’ of the road. I called it Good Hope Beach, but it’s real name is Diaz Beach. To get to this particular beach there are about 1000 steps down which probably equates to about 600 or 700 vertical feet. Suffice it to say… the stairs and proximity to parking meant when I went down there I was alone staring out in silence at the imaginary boundary between oceans.
Truly a magic place, and a magic place for where I was in my life at that time. At some point later in that trip I penned a piece that I keep on my bedside with a small handful of sand acquired from that place. I still relish the feeling it brings back to read it from time to time and it makes a nice smooth entry into the recesses of my writing journey for those that dare take a bite of the word salad.
Enjoy!
Sands of Mind
In a place where water meets land
Magic occurs for shore
Bare-footed could be bare-minded
What makes this place so universal?
It is merely rock transformed
Cleansed, rounded, softened
Slowly over time
How fortunate we are to walk there
To ponder pleasures of things intrinsic
With enough time
Even stone can flow
Some dare leave to discover
Some find peace to ponder in staying
A child does not need to be taught to play
Run in a dream
Build a castle
Smile and bury an inner youth to break free
A quiet crash, a peaceful rush, an inspired ebb
In the awe of smallness
Find innate joyous simplicity
Come let’s watch our footprints disappear…
Jonathan Couture - 2004
