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Sunday 8 February 2009

Miscalculation -- by Zephirine

.
One time on the Algarve coast
we drove through dull suburbs
for a long while
then suddenly the road came out
into open space
with a few pine trees
and there was the sea
beside us
gleaming
delightful in the sun
there
just beyond the roadside grass

We stopped
the three men got out
and charged full speed across the turf
aiming merrily for a flying leap
four or maybe only three feet
down onto the beach
and then to meet the waves

Two seconds later
flung themselves
back
off balance
flailing arms
and
only just
to a staggering stop
at the edge
the very edge

Quickly we joined them
looking down
down
down
down
a bare iron-red cliff-face to a beach
far far below
distant stones and rocks
the gleaming delightful
waiting sea

The road had gone uphill
without us noticing
taking us a hundred feet
above sea level
maybe more

Someone said : “Fuck.”

We got back into the car and drove on

No one ever mentioned it again
.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Apt. And beautifully expressed.

A miscalculation saved only by time is me taking coffee and a sausage roll in Marysville. Exactly this time last year, we were there - I have some photos. Now the town is burned to buggery and people have lost their lives.

I'm finding it hard to care about sporting results tonight, and also finding it hard to sleep.

Zephirine said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kBd2vA8Fg0

Anonymous said...

Zeph,

The clip recalled this of Blake's:

O Rose, thou art sick!
The invisible worm
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,

Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.