breath in // breathe out

I remember sitting there
after climbing to the top
bare feet warm from the rocks

I looked down and below me the waves gently lapped against the side of the monolith from which I perched on the western coast of Italy. The depth of the water unknowable, the tide carried them in and out - low and high. Like the earth was breathing in deep sighs. 

I've been thumbing through my pages of Hemingway lately - those that are dog-eared and torn in one place from when i was looking for it in the dark, in that theater. The words and phrases underlined- sometimes unevenly from the jolting of the bus that carried us across southern France. The Mollat sticker on the back has started to fade. 

'Nothing can be simpler than growing..."

"...Damn it taking so long."

But maybe that's the thing about growth- sometimes you don't even know it's happening until you look back and see how far you've come. 

Suddenly, all you have of that time are rare glimpses that flash into memory and then leave just as quickly as they came. 

It takes it's time / / but it's as simple as breathing.