A House by the Sea

I built my house by the sea. Not on the sands, mind you, not on the shifting sand. And I built it of rock. A strong house by a strong sea. And we got well acquainted, the sea and I. Good neighbours. Not that we spoke much. We met in silences, respectful, keeping our distance but looking our thoughts across the fence of sand. Always the fence of sand our barrier, always the sand between.

And then one day (and I still don't know how it happened) The sea came. Without warning. Without welcome even. Not sudden and swift, but a shifting across the sand like wine, less like the flow of water than the flow of blood. Slow, but flowing like an open wound. And I thought of flight, and I thought of drowning, and I thought of death. But while I thought, the sea crept higher till it reached my door. And I knew that there was neither flight nor death nor drowning. That when the sea comes calling you stop being good neighbours, Well acquainted, friendly from a distance neighbours. And you give your house for a coral castle And you learn to breathe under water.

- Carol Bialock, RSCJ, quoted in Sharing the Darkness by Sheila Cassidy