Writings in the Sands of Time...
This happened to me some-time in the middle of February, 2011
A guide took me to a very deserted beach with-in the Lekki axis in Lagos State, Nigeria called the Ilasan beach. It was very quiet, no sound save for the waves beating against the shore-line trying to over-power it with-out success.
My guide promptly retreated out of sight as he sensed I did not need his guidance here.
Smart fellow.
I looked around me and had the feeling that I was the only human standing in the New World waiting to welcome the cross-overs from the Old World. I felt I was the inhabitant of another planet as there was not an iota of civilisation in sight with the exception of a once proud ship whose progress had been abruptly stopped by the First (1st) Battalion of Sand guarding the shore-line. It had been slapped in the face several ways by Mother Nature for daring to enter her territory.
A sorry sight to be-hold, in-deed it was.
I looked at the ship and I wondered if it had contained members of the Old World who tried to cross over inTo the New World.
I wondered if Mother Nature had stopped them due to the advanced mode of transportation, perhaps she felt threatened that they will destroy this world as they had annihilated the Old World.
A furtive move-ment around the axis of my feet caught my eye and I looked down-wards and caught the retreating claw of a crab as it dis-appeared in-to the sand.
Prior to that day, I had no idea crabs could burrow.
How did they breathe in SAND? I wondered...
Perhaps, the porousity made it feasible..?
As I continued to look around me at the breath-taking vastness and poignant emptiness, the faint ghost of words began to form in my head.
I waited patiently, allowing it to to arrive in-to my immediate consciousness....
I realised I had left all my devices in the car be-cause I did not wish to be disturbed. The words were coming faster now, there was not a moment to lose! I moved further away from the water, bent in the sand, away from the waves, buried my expensive French manicure in the sand (condemning them in the process) and began to write....
And then.... the words stopped.
I knew it was over.
My communion in the New World had ended.
A guide took me to a very deserted beach with-in the Lekki axis in Lagos State, Nigeria called the Ilasan beach. It was very quiet, no sound save for the waves beating against the shore-line trying to over-power it with-out success.
My guide promptly retreated out of sight as he sensed I did not need his guidance here.
Smart fellow.
I looked around me and had the feeling that I was the only human standing in the New World waiting to welcome the cross-overs from the Old World. I felt I was the inhabitant of another planet as there was not an iota of civilisation in sight with the exception of a once proud ship whose progress had been abruptly stopped by the First (1st) Battalion of Sand guarding the shore-line. It had been slapped in the face several ways by Mother Nature for daring to enter her territory.
A sorry sight to be-hold, in-deed it was.
I looked at the ship and I wondered if it had contained members of the Old World who tried to cross over inTo the New World.
I wondered if Mother Nature had stopped them due to the advanced mode of transportation, perhaps she felt threatened that they will destroy this world as they had annihilated the Old World.
I wondered if the crew made the cross-over successfully....
A furtive move-ment around the axis of my feet caught my eye and I looked down-wards and caught the retreating claw of a crab as it dis-appeared in-to the sand.
Prior to that day, I had no idea crabs could burrow.
How did they breathe in SAND? I wondered...Perhaps, the porousity made it feasible..?
As I continued to look around me at the breath-taking vastness and poignant emptiness, the faint ghost of words began to form in my head.
I waited patiently, allowing it to to arrive in-to my immediate consciousness....
I realised I had left all my devices in the car be-cause I did not wish to be disturbed. The words were coming faster now, there was not a moment to lose! I moved further away from the water, bent in the sand, away from the waves, buried my expensive French manicure in the sand (condemning them in the process) and began to write....
A Pirates wrecked ship
Forlorn, by the shore
A disturbed crustacean
Buried as be-fore
An open sky and sea
As of the days of yore
Dancing with the waves
At nature's open door
And then.... the words stopped.
I knew it was over.
My communion in the New World had ended.
I memorized what I had written on the Sands of Time, took one last look around and made my way back to the Old World.
I recall with nostalgia a similar experience I had at Akodo beach way back in Lagos...watching a crab run into its burrowed hole....and the peace of the ocean raving and splashing the waves around.
ReplyDeletethis is Original i like the perspective
ReplyDelete@Felix - Yes, in-deed, it's rather surreal especially when there's no other human life form present....
ReplyDelete@Lilian - Thank you :)
Where is this place, Ilasan beach?
ReplyDeleteWould like to visit. All the beaches in Lekki are overrun by tourists and hungry 'guides'.