The ebb and a fall... someone said

When nothing seems to be working out right, when the heart is heavy and the soul weary, one tends to find solace in the recesses of one's memory. It is comforting to walk down memory lane, stop in front of your best friends' gate, chat a while and move on. It soothes the soul to remember a holiday, an event, a moment.

The sand beneath your feet is cold. The moonlight shimmers on the waves as they hurdle up to you, break at your feet, and silently slide back. The roar of the waves, the rustling of the coconut trees and the sounds of your breath are the only things that matter. The cool breeze plays on your skin as you pull your shawl closer around your shoulders. The nip in the air is welcome. It stirs the mind and dulls the soul. It stimulates the nerves as adrenalin rushes through your body. You know you can easily fall asleep on these shores as long as you can feel this.

You sit down on the cool sand. The waves rush up to you in a swell, and recede silently. They are speaking to you. They are telling you that good times will come again, as surely as the next wave will. They are coaxing you to wash your heavy heart one wave at a time, till you are cleansed like the sparkling beach. Time stands still as you sit on the sand, listening to the wisdom of the waves, the comfort of the breeze and the voices in the trees. You see the crabs scamper past as they dart across the freshly washed shore, making fresh patterns. You see fresh hope.

The angle of the shimmer on the water has changed. The moon seems higher in the sky. It has taken a while for you to understand the language of the waves. There is always an ebb and then a fall. The distance, the time between these is what is difficult. You can now lie down on the sand, and look up at the millions of stars in the crystal clear sky. Nowhere on earth can you see more stars than under this sky, in this thumbnail of the world. You can travel to Orion, to Pleades and to whichever other constellation you wish. You can reach for the stars, literally. And no distance matters anymore. Not between the ebb and the fall... not between you and the stars.

And that is where you find your peace, your corner in the world. That is when your step becomes lighter, your smile brighter.