An Hours Time

The waves I had bolstered as best I could; whilst the havoc of the tide continued to reap, impaling me, over and over. I stayed writhing, enclosed by the brine. knocking against that intemperate current, fully determined in finding the vessel. Hark! She floats, bobbing gracefully, mast windborne, as if winged. I frantically swam towards that band of logs. At last, I emerged from the sea.

As I became situated I noticed the deck had been scrubbed a flaxen blond. The chilled breeze seemed to saunter, sending the ravagings of winter rearwards down my stern like a squall. I stayed for a while, looking out into the benign sky; watched the clouds drift across the bygone, and listened as the soft wind blew into my ears.

It happened during the supreme madness of the carnival season, where I had run into an old friend of mine. I could tell he was maudlin, for I had known him to be a drunkard, quaffing pint after pint of good Berkshire ale. As expected he adorned a suit and tie, the man wore finery for each and every affair, even his flat-crowned hat spoke of formality.

I said to him --” O my! Never have I seen a man so disheartened, 

“I hath dealt within the realm of the currency of words.”

“Words are my currency; sure you can throw coinage into the affair.”

“No fear, saith my heart; you're a soldier, best keep your wits about you.”

“To be sure, let the winds take it.” He said.

“Indeed.”

“Say, I haven't seen you in a time, all is well I hope?”

“Yes, up to the highest mark, the work is quality.”

“Ah, how noble, each man delights in the slog that suits him best,”

“I suppose.”

He said:

“Come, let us go, and leave this place.”

“Whither?”

“The precipice.”

"My friend, no; I will not impose upon your good nature. I perceive you have an engagement. Wagers call, do they not?”

"Certainly not! I have no engagement; --come."

"My friend, no. It is not the engagement, but the severe cold with which I perceive you are afflicted. The steeps are insufferably damp, cautious as you are, I incline you to be aware."

"I am very much aware, on the contrary, frost is food for the wits, My friend! You have been imposed upon. We will take the sky's tram, come now, let us ascend to the heavens!" He said.

Thus speaking, he possessed himself of my hand; and putting on a second more dense coat of velvet he went, and I followed.

There were no others at the scarp; they had most likely fled due to the unseemly weather, I thought him to be a madman, of course!

I glanced at him, swift, he remained warm in his layered vessel, whilst I stood there chilled. 

"My god, leisure can be finally restored well without those flattery crowds,"

"I hope you know yourself to be a lucky man,"

"Yes, well."

"And yourself, I hope you to be alright?"

"Nay, Margarete rejected my hand in marriage."

"My! Is that so," I said

"It is, although, I am certainly offended, what a bore that woman was."

"Then why on earth did you pay her any mind?"

"Virtue I have none, ambition, however."

"Ah, you admit it, foul that is."

“There! A boat!” He said.

“Ah yes, I see it, peaceful thing it is.”

“Of course, it is never to leave the azure.”

“My, how exhilarating.”

“Now come, it hasn't known anything else,”

“It looks to be keepless.”

“Looks so,”

“How exciting, a wild one!”

“Wild as a boat can be,”

“Must you always act so cynical?” He said.

“I’m no cynic, only a realist”

"I'm not sure, a cynic would answer samely.”

“They would not!”

“They absolutely would.” He chuckled.

“Let us stay for a little while, a little while, whilst the weary task is put away,”

“Where wilt thou go? What thought, what scene invites thee now,”

“It is but heaven so clear, by ripples so calm. So sweet, so soft, so hushed in air.” He said.

“That was the scene, I knew it well; I knew the steep fall one must take,”

“Could you have lingered for but an hour?” I said

“Of course, only for you, but I’m afraid I must go now, I must go into the blue.”

He lept forth off the rock, and I lept in toe, searching for him with stinging eyes, to no avail. He was all I'd known, like the sea he calmed me with his soft breaths echoing that of the shore, his warm hands echoing that of the blistering sun. Though, he took the plunge we all inevitably take, throwing away this life for another, trading this vessel for none at all, leaving me to roam this plain by my lonesome. I have been roaming without him for quite some time, but in my heart I always knew he was out there, waiting for me since boyhood, now he still waits for me, although romping like a god, romping like I never could, flitting through the sky, forging a new path, forging it without me, for this is a journey he must take alone, a thick he must brave alone, he must come to imagine the unimaginable, think the unthinkable, reach the unreachable, for to truly become one with the sea, one must learn to truly be, one with the millions, billions, of souls out of reach, souls to teach, to cleanse, to mold, to bend, for one mustn't lie nor pretend, for to lie is to forge your chances broken, to speak those words unspoken. He will live on in the sea from now on, he will learn to breathe in the deep all alone. 

Then, even as I stood there, on that lemon deck, with raptured eyes. Absorbed in solitude, so deep and drear. My hour with him had fleeted by, and back came wounds, slits, and gore, in the form of stars in the sky.