MUSINGS and other writing by Mark Kolke

ARRESTED BY THE DAWN
 
Mark's Musing Sunday Oct. 18, 2009
today's Musing  written and published from the Kamaole Sands, Kihei, Maui
 
Morning walk: 24C/76F at first light (5:45AM), 85F predicted high, possibility of showers; a sound, unfamiliar, I opened the lanai door for a closer look - to be sure it was neither the crying baby or hoof-beats from the unit above, at first it sounded like something connected to the mechanical system - intermittent irregular air-conditioner percussion perhaps, but it didn't quit - a block from the beach, was it from there, what could it be?
 
First beach steps brought me face to face with it; big surf means bigger waves crashing upon themselves - but not enough to wake three sleeping fishermen, on cots tucked up against the shrubbery to keep them dry at high-tide, bent rods parked deep in sand, their snoring not heard by anyone above the pulse of that surf.
 
First thing, after end of night (photo below taken just after-dawn yesterday in Kula up-country, looking north westerly, through the cows to drink in the morning) comes beginning of morning - time for opening agenda of the whole day; everything available, choosing the first entry - sets tone, makes mood, allows thoughts float over unspoiled page, like a curved panel of sand left smooth by a retreating wave.  The next wave erases all signs of what was there, replacing it with a clean sheet for later, or tomorrow, or for the afternoon . .
 
Being alive here is better than being alive anywhere, painted pictures cannot capture it, photos only fake it, coming to visit is the only way to know it. If this is a place to align place and purpose, how can I manage that? 
 
It strikes me as - bizarre, this place 'colonized' by missionaries advocating that for a life faithfully lived, heaven would await, as if there was a better place somewhere than this And, that a life of faithful service and duty was required to get to said promised land; here, just being here is all it takes to know, just wanting this is all you need to be.
 
Sunday beach-walker volume down - maybe just sleeping in. I had the place to myself for most of my southbound trek, mind free of distractions to ponder ideas in need of solitude and reflection. 
 
Oscar Wilde said: 'A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.'  As metaphor for 'seeing the future, seeing the way things might be', Wilde is bang-on, but for seeing day breaking he misses the point I think. To be arrested by the dawn is no crime, waking here is no punishment.
 
It is true, I am sure, for every lovely place, that people who live there tend to take its special qualities, natural beauty and raison d'ętrefor granted.  In Calgary that might be views and proximity to Rockies, in larger places that might be access to 'where the action is', or distance to ... museums, theatres, biz, buzz, jazz, class, bohemia and back again ....  right of citizenship, opportunity of just being there, left under-appreciated.  Visitors ooh, they ahhh, but locals tend to just take it for granted.
 
This place is no different - just another day in paradise to those who wake to it every day, so they slept though my special experience; which is just fine because I don't want to share it with everyone, or 'just anyone'. Just as well so many slept. What they missed, I enjoyed for them.
 
I cannot take this place with me when I leave - nor can I leave part of me behind; to let my memories keep it fresh in mind, hearing vicarious visits of others notwithstanding, there is no better way to make love to an idea or a dream than to wake it up, stir it up, let its waves come crashing down like thunder . . . pounding the beach, while tenderly caressing it too, the pulse of this place no punishment at all, before or after the dawn, before or after the night.
 
Mark Kolke
327,612          
198.6

Note: double click on picture above to enlarge it