True love

      She belongs to no one. But she knows I belong to her. She knows I live by her rocking gentleness, by her sudden strikes of angry waves and gloomy skies, by her encompassing and powerful presence of calm confidence.

      I tried to run away. When I was young and full of silly dreams. The city life suffocated. She pulled me back. Back to where I left my heart. Back to her. She is equally generous in sharing her gifts, as she is ruthless in holding on to what is rightfully hers. Ready to take it away any given moment. One day she will have me too. Because this is where I belong. Because there will be nowhere to go back to. Except to fill my entire soul with her openness. To dive into her warm embrace. To succumb to her final call. But today I visit her again.

      Today I ask for her inviting grace. I squint my eyes under the glitter of the rising rays. Her salty air weathered and roughened my features for years. Enclosed me into a shell of endurance and perseverance. But my soul is out there. Exploded outward. As vast as her horizon. Reflecting her striking beauty in my eyes.

      An old man and his sea.

      (inspired by Hemingway timeless book, and my personal admiration of mighty vastness and powers of the open seas)