The Seas of Andaman
on the table beside me lie two small pieces of battered
coral...and a small shell, smoothed to satin
translucence, fragments that perhaps were thrown up in
the churning swirl of seas on the day that shook the
world.
In the gentle seas of Andaman, lies the island of
Phuket....tranquil, edged white with soft sands of
coral...and girded with tall trees of casuarina and
palm...dawns spread candyfloss across the grey of
vanishing night… the beach...smoothed by the tide, was
cool below my feet, and the early morning ripples
whispered happily over footprints and sandcrab
holes....leaving..nothing.
rows of cushioned chairs...wait..small bars, cafes, and
stalls edge the sands, dresses, skirts and shirts swing
in the light wind, everything is new, well
tended...immaculate. proudly so..
as I walk along the beach just after dawn, I meet the
dogs... nothing special, just happy, free, friendly,
independant, I liked that. they asked for nothing, but
were always happy to wag, and sit beside me for a chat...
as I walk the length of sands, I notice gaps between
cafes and bars...and gradually I understand...the old..is
being replaced with new...
towards the end of the beach, a freshwater river sharply
cuts its way through the sand, which seems a darker gold
here...the cafes have dwindled away, the dogs have curled
up again. the sun is warmer on my back, a sea eagle
passes over….beautiful…majestic...silent
and then I see it, the pile, left untouched. no monument
could speak louder. whole trees mixed with remnants of
another life...a life washed away in a few short
hours...the air seemed to cool around me...I didn't want
to look... the horror tightened about me, and for a long
time I sat upon the sand, seeing the wall of water...and
understood why trees have no lower branches…
feeling bereft, I turned away, towards today, and the
future so many had lost when this heap of death was
formed...
sunsets here bring a molten, golden edge to life...
streaks of mango and pink lie accross the evening as
candles are lit around the little restaurants and cafes
edging the beach... and the sea laps and sucks its way
along the cooling sands....
every evening we would watch as lanterns were sold, lit
and lifted into the velvet and starred night...they
floated silently, high against the bordering hills until
the lights were but a pin point, and then...nothing.
this was the night I would send my lantern into that
infinate blackness...my thoughts would for a little
while, be a star among other stars.
the soft roar of flames was warm on my skin, in the
circle of light I stood isolated, for a few moments
nothing else existed.. slowly the lantern lifted to join
the necklace of lights that carried memories, messages…
and blessings.
I watched it drift as it crossed the blackness. I watched
the light grow smaller in the distance...and I watched it
die...leaving a blacker sky...
as I write, looking out to the snowbound Border Hills,
beside me on the table, lie two battered pieces of coral,
and a shell, smoothed to white translucence...
pim claridge