I COULD SEE the sea when I emerged from the forest, a darker shade of blue beneath a bright blue horizon. To get there I would have to walk through yellow fields of wheat. There was a fine path straight through but along the way I became very tired, paused by an old tree stump, and fell into a deep sleep. I half expected to wake up back in bed in my home, but when my eyes again opened, I was still on that same path and there were flies buzzing around my face.
I stood up, dusted myself off, wiped the sweat from my eyes and brow and continued my pilgrimage to the sea. As I neared the coast, I came to a series of old farmhouses, the kinds that are popular on the islands, with their thatched sea reed roofs. A farmer was off in a nearby field, but he paid no attention to me as I walked through his property toward the seaside. It was a hot day and I was looking forward to jumping into those cool waters.
I walked along a fence and then through a barn, until I came to the dock on the sea. But, to my surprise, there was no beach there, no shallow waters. The sea just churned beneath a white boat, deep and dark, and I lost any desire to dive into it. It was too vast, it was too heavy, too capable of swallowing everything up. So I just stood there watching it for some time alone.
north! 