Sails of Memory on the Côte Sauvage

The vastness of the ocean is where I feel most free,

The wondrous waves, their motion miraculous, somewhat familiar to me,

From a phantasmagoric past life when I roamed the sea,

As the captain of a pirate ship, a buccaneer most peculiar, with wondrous dreams to chase.

Adventure was what set me free

On the vast, voluptuous, and vicious sea,

A ferocious fiend of fantasy, and

My heart’s true and tormenting sanctuary.

I remember that world of crazy dreams, a life so wild and grand,

Gold coins in pouches, gallons of rum, gambling greed at hand.

And above all, the love for this enormous expanse of seas,

Making me thirsty for adventures, and never content to settle down.

Have you ever seen a woman pirate dressed without petticoats?

With courage in her eyes and freedom in her voice and soul?

I needed to travel and explore, continuously making maps,

Refining the expectations of the higher class, perhaps.

Maps of the new world were in great demand,

New islands to discover was a job for this wild lad.

A hat covering my wild brown curls, a pair of brown long pants,

I was the master of my destiny, nobody could contradict my demands.

My quill scratched parchment fervently, tracing new artsy coastlines,

Filling blank spaces with details tried and local curiosities.

For kings and queens, for merchants seeking gold and fame,

I fabricated beautiful, “almost” true maps of secret bountiful lands.

I talked in many languages and could speak even with signs,

Locals would acquiesce and accept my treaties, helping with my designs.

I felt like a discoverer of souls, I never meant to bring them sorrows,

Nor break their homeland, but to bridge our miraculous tomorrows.

I wanted to bring about love and to discover God in every piece of nature,

That was my world, my purpose, my ultimate adventure to attain,

A goal so pure and brave.

***

Now, as I stand on the Atlantic shore, I feel confused

Yet wondering where all these memories come from.

I yearn for days of freedom, exploration, and the raucous rumbling sea.

***

Though time has passed and I’ve become a new self,

My old-time spirit, from another dimension, remains unbound,

Its memory of another world is far gone.

***

I feel that my true wandering self is always in my heart,

Its transforming energies are to be found and sung by the ocean,

Forever moving with the tides of time and the whispers of the gentle breeze, divine.

Thus I welcome you into my world, dear reader, dear friend,

Let your soul set sail on this adventure called life,

Allow new dreams to guide you towards different horizons,

Traverse the lands I once charted and feel the earth beneath your feet,

***

Be present, breathe in the salty air, and let the sunny, frolicky waves

Greet your wandering spirit, as it did mine before my time,

When I was captain, pirate woman, explorer, and so much more.

***

In all my past lives travels, I’ve learned a lot about love and life.

Our world is a treasure to be discovered, with wonders beyond our belief.

Just listen to your inner intuition, guiding you perhaps on an expedition,

***

Know and accept that in its vastness, like the ocean,

your true self cannot hide for long,

Just think about it for a minute and contemplate your soul.

***

Though my days of sailing and map drawing are in a parallel past,

the thrill of natural discovery remains deep in my heart.

***

In this journey of our lives through nature,

from coast to gleaming coast,

You’ll find all those abounding echoes of the beyond,

dear miracles of the life I loved the most.

***

Perhaps, for a few seconds,

through the whisper of waves or

a shush of the breeze in the sand,

You’ll hear my stories

written and carved into calcareous rocks,

Shells murmuring noises, and the music of the sea

intertwined between my dreams and reality,

Carried on the ever-moving haunting breeze

to inspire and flow.

Welcome to my world! Now it’s your turn.

--

***I originally published this story on Medium.***

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