You are paddling in the sea in your indigo bikini<\/p>\n
An Ibex throws a multi-coloured beach ball towards you<\/p>\n
It sails over your head and lands in the sea<\/p>\n
You ignore the spray and look at the planets in the wise sky<\/p>\n
In time they will be aligned<\/p>\n
The Ibex retrieves the beach ball and again throws in your direction<\/p>\n
It sails over your head once more but does not land in the sea<\/p>\n
Instead it floats upwards towards the planets<\/p>\n
It has an ambition to become a great planet<\/p>\n
I hear a song faintly at first from behind the beach tents<\/p>\n
Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies <\/i><\/p>\n
Farewell and adieu to you ladies of Spain <\/i><\/p>\n
I turn and see an ice cream vendor pushing his trolley through the fine sand with great difficulty<\/p>\n
He stops next to a nursing mother and given each of her seven children an ice cream<\/p>\n
One walks towards me and gives me his confectionary<\/p>\n
I accept with a smile and tell the child that I approve of his mathematics<\/p>\n
The baby leaves its mothers breast and looks at the sky<\/p>\n
It is looking at something that no-one else can see<\/p>\n
The ice cream vendor approaches me<\/p>\n
I prefer to see her in a white bikini <\/i><\/p>\n
Who?<\/i><\/p>\n
Margate Sands I prefer to see Margate Sands in a white bikini I am not fond of Indigo \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
I do not reply and the vendor leaves after I assure him that I will bury my newspaper in the sand<\/p>\n
A girl with a complexion as dark as the vendors sits next to me she is crying<\/p>\n
Il papa e morto <\/i><\/p>\n
I console her and give her my indigo handkerchief<\/p>\n
She wipes away her tears and looks at the sky<\/p>\n
Il papa e morto <\/i><\/p>\n
Abbiamo un nuovo papa <\/i><\/p>\n
Come si chiama?<\/i><\/p>\n
Egli e chiamato San Francesco <\/i><\/p>\n
Grazie <\/i><\/p>\n
The girl kisses me lightly on the cheek and leaves handing my handkerchief to a passing seagull who is also in a state of shock<\/p>\n
I watch my wife speak briefly to the girl with the dark complexion they hug and my wife points towards the sky<\/p>\n
Only the baby can see the movement of the planets<\/p>\n
What is your name sir? <\/i><\/p>\n
My name is Soft Time <\/i><\/p>\n
Is that your wife in the indigo bikini?<\/i><\/p>\n
Yes her name is Margate Sands <\/i><\/p>\n
Why is she crouching in the sea? <\/i><\/p>\n
I fear that she is looking for the missing beach ball <\/i><\/p>\n
I know of its location <\/i><\/p>\n
So do I <\/i><\/p>\n
It is with the planets far away <\/i><\/p>\n
I am speaking to a maid from a nearby hotel she has a perfect smile but asks me to carve the likeness of a camel on to one of her teeth<\/p>\n
I reply that I would spoil her smile and pick up a faded donkey\u2019s tooth half hidden in the sand<\/p>\n
I ask that I may carve the likeness on to the equine tooth<\/p>\n
The maid notes that she has only three toes and her perfect smile has always been an irritation<\/p>\n
Why I ask<\/p>\n
She shows me her deformed foot<\/p>\n
I tell her it is as beautiful as her smile<\/p>\n
The maid is silent for a while and watches as my wife swims in the azure sea<\/p>\n
She smiles and explains that whilst the equine tooth would be gratefully received she might during her long life lose my carving<\/p>\n
She adds that if the carving was hidden within her person they it would always remain safe and in time share her grave<\/p>\n
I agree and take a pen-knife from pocket and begin to carve the likeness of a camel as desired<\/p>\n
My wife returns from the sea which has drained all the colour from her bikini<\/p>\n
The fabric is now totally white<\/p>\n
I complement her on her choice of colour and she replies with irritation that whilst both colours suit her she is annoyed with the sea as it has stolen the indigo<\/p>\n
The sea is fickle in its choices<\/em><\/p>\n Later we both paddle in the shallows it is late afternoon<\/p>\n The mother baby and the children are gone I can see the baby staring into the sky from its\u00a0 nursery window<\/p>\n An urchin on crutches approaches us both and requests alms<\/p>\n My wife explains that she is nearly naked and carries no alms<\/p>\n I give the urchin a silver coin which she throws into the sea<\/p>\n I question her action and request her name<\/p>\n My name is Andy Miller<\/i><\/p>\n But you are a woman under your rags <\/i><\/p>\n Andy is a shortened version of Andrea your wife knows that as she has created me <\/i><\/p>\n Explain your accusation <\/i><\/p>\n I am a creation of Margate Sands your wife imagines me today she imagines me in rags with only one leg <\/i><\/p>\n The woman lifts her skirt and shows me her bloody stump<\/p>\n I ask my wife why this cruelty exists<\/p>\n She is deserving of chaos <\/i><\/p>\n I do not exist how may I be deserving of chaos?<\/i><\/p>\n My wife takes the woman in rags into the deeper sea and both vanishi under the surface for a moment<\/p>\n When they emerge they are identical in every feature<\/p>\n I cannot identify my wife<\/p>\n This is a game of the planets you think you are looking at two identical women but there is only one there is confusion in your eyes\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n I am confused<\/em><\/p>\n Then close your eyes<\/em><\/p>\n I close my eyes and when my sight returns my wife is at my side in her indigo bikini<\/p>\n You were angry with the sea so the planets tormented me why should that happen? <\/i><\/p>\n Andrea Miller only exists in my head you should never have met her <\/i><\/p>\n I am angry with the sea but also with the planets so they punished me by punsishing you\u00a0 <\/i><\/p>\n Are you cleansed? <\/i><\/p>\n I am cleaned and am sorry<\/em> you will not meet Andrea Miller again <\/em><\/p>\n As the seventeenth hour of the day commenced the tide begins to fall vast expanses of damp sand were exposed<\/p>\n We began to walk away from the town chasing the tide<\/p>\n No-one followed us<\/p>\n We were alone<\/p>\n I have calculated a mile but the tide is still not near<\/p>\n The day begins to die and my wife begins to chill<\/p>\n I remove my cotton shirt and wrap it around her shoulders<\/p>\n There is a darkness on the horizon and slowly the day fades<\/p>\n We sit on the wet sand and look at the splendour of the planets<\/p>\n So does the baby from its gentle crib<\/p>\n The planets are moving and the new child smiles quietly away from its siblings<\/p>\n The master planet drops low almost to sea level it covers our view and we are bathed in its light<\/p>\n As it fades secondary planets come into view<\/p>\n They are reflected in the many pools<\/p>\n The tide is returning and soon we are floating on the surface of the sea like drowned mariners from a stricken ship<\/p>\n We watch the movement of the planets in awe<\/p>\n The baby secretly stands in its crib and records its memories for later years<\/p>\n Its mother sleeps<\/p>\n Its siblings sleep<\/p>\n Their house is quiet but is bathed in the light of the planets<\/p>\n The ice cream vendor also sleeps but has his back turned away from the splendour<\/p>\n The girl with the dark complexion sleeps with a photo of the new Pope covering her breasts<\/p>\n I fedeli di vedra tutto <\/i><\/p>\n She replies to herself as she dreams<\/p>\n The baby passes her window and flies towards the sea and within the hour is in the arms of Margate Sands<\/p>\n We are standing in the shallows and standing still<\/p>\n My wife holds the baby who is staring at the planets<\/p>\n Its eyes widen in approval at the spectacular<\/p>\n Soon the baby leaves us and flies back to its crib<\/p>\n Its mother still sleeps<\/p>\n The house is quiet but darker now<\/p>\n The planets are beginning to fade<\/p>\n Morning is near<\/p>\n My wife and I return to the beach and await the day<\/p>\n We do not tire<\/p>\n I ask her of Andrea Miller<\/p>\n She will not return I am told<\/p>\n The planets only punish once<\/p>\n They are often benign<\/p>\n The sun soon bathes the day<\/p>\n My wife plays in the sea with an ibex and they throw a brightly coloured beach ball to each other<\/p>\n The girl with the dark complexion walks hand in in hand with the new Pope as they chatter and smile<\/p>\n The maid is working in a nearby hotel and is talking to her guests<\/p>\n They all compliment her on her wonderful smile<\/p>\n In the distance beyond the sea I note a train of camels crossing the dunes with their cargos aloft<\/p>\n Their master beckons that I join them<\/p>\n I do not leave a message for my wife for I know that I will return before her<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You are paddling in the sea in your indigo bikini An Ibex throws a multi-coloured beach ball towards you It sails over your head and lands in the sea You ignore the spray and look at the planets in the wise sky In time they will be aligned The Ibex retrieves the beach ball and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1513"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1513\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}