I am here before dawn

A halo of light appears on the horizon

As the sun slowly rises

Nature’s morning light show plays out before me

Crimson, purple and yellow hypnotically colour the sky

Making way for azure blue on this summer’s day

 

Daylight reveals highways of the sea shimmering in the heat

Dover to Calais ferries dart between the wake of mammoth container ships

Walkers begin to processionally pass by on their way to The Cliffs

Few pay me attention

 

An elderly woman with a walking stick stops

She leans on the convenient railings

Bidding me “good morning”

I agree that it is indeed an extremely good morning

She seems pleased with my confirmation of her certainty

As she smiles, making her way back to her nearby home

 

 

Tranquillity on this bench

A man on a mountain bike rides past

Surprised to recognise the rider as someone I know

Today he fails to stop and pass some time with me

Too intent on his exercise

 

I eat my lunch

Prepared in advance

Prepared whilst most of the world still slept

Observing once more the ferries

I too have travelled their route

Today my role is observation

All life going on

I look upwards towards The Cliffs

Snakes of people walk the well-trodden paths

I have also walked their route

Today is altogether more leisurely

 

It is calm

The glistening sea

I have witnessed it untamed

Nature unleashed

Today gentle waves lap to shore on the little beach

Here children play

Their shouts of excitement take me back to my own childhood

Different beach

Another coast

The same feeling pervades nonetheless

Early evening the need for more sustenance calls me

Taking my leave from the bench for a little while

A solitary seagull takes my place as sentinel

In my absence he observes

I return within the hour

The seagull sentinel is gone

He must have found other adventures more enticing

Or perhaps the need to sustenance took him away as well

I take over his post

There on our bench

My watch now

A kayak passes by protectively close to shore

The bright red of a lifejacket keeps him safe

As he resolutely paddles against the tide

To disappear out of sight around the headland

Heading for Dover I suppose

Or maybe Folkestone

 

The sun begins to set behind me

As darkness slowly rises across the water

Then sudden silence

Reaching outwards with all my senses

I see the lights of unknown ships

Mirrored by lights from distant silhouetted homes above me

One bench looking out to sea on the Kent Coast

Time-shared with a seagull

There is magic in the air this day

In this seascape

For those remaining still long enough to feel it

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