It was love at first sight… the day I met The Beach

That day, in 1973, at the age of 25, was the first time I had ever seen the sea – and it was love at first sight! The beach was all I had ever imagined it to be – soft, white sand, shells strewn here and there, little crabs scurrying for cover as I walked on the wet sand where the tide had left its mark.
.
I looked at the waves with their white crests, a beautiful sight to behold. Perpetual motion, hypnotic, soothing, yet disturbing. There and then I decided that the water was the domain of the sharks and the beach was mine – mine to walk, mine to search for beach treasures, mine to leave footprints on and mine to sit and dream, for hours, while the waves crashed in a never-ending crescendo, alluring, calling, but also warning,

“In joy thou hast lived.
Beware of the Sea!
If thou hearest the cry of the gull on the shore,
Thy heart shall then rest in the forest no more.”