An Almost Indescribable Evening

It is a somewhat cloudy and hazy Saturday morning, proving the weather forecasters wrong again. They predicted hot and clear.

Last evening however was pristine and beautiful along the seawall and I stayed to enjoy the sunset. It was one of those evenings you don’t want to miss, echoing some of the beautiful sunsets I witnessed last year at this time.

I took my usual evening walk along Harwood to Burrard and then over to Hornby where I cut down to the seawall. I took my time, making my way back under the Burrard Street Bridge to Sunset Beach and then on to the Inukshuk at English Bay.

There was a group of about 12 Asian students enjoying the spectacle and enjoying themselves enjoying it, taking numerous digital photos and posing and making faces for the camera. Their good energy was infectious while at the same time remaining unobtrusive.

Since all the benches were being used, I stood by the rocks at water’s edge for some time enjoying the brilliant flash of sunlight reflected on the steely surface of the water, the thin layer of mist only partially obscuring the contours of the green land masses in the distance, and the almost spectral play of mist and color over the trees above the beach.

It was as though there was a rainbow whose colors were barely perceptible, shimmering just behind the evening light.

One of the students, a young girl clambered up on the rocks just behind me when my back was turned. I realized that they were trying to get shots of the sunset and my presence was obscuring the view, but she gave me a beautiful and unselfconscious smile as she posed for her friends.

I discreetly removed myself from the foreground and found a bench a few feet down the walkway where I paused to watch the sun’s slow progress towards the water, and the delightful play of light involved and to listen to the enchanting sounds of their voices and laughter.

As the sun continued its descent the evening chill began to creep in, and so I moved and walked back down towards the Aids Memorial, where I usually make my way back up to my apartment. I am still using my cane so the walk was slow and meditative.

I paused many times to admire the play of light over the surfaces of the trees and building, and could not help but think about my good friend Herb in his last years, and how he used to do the same thing.

A man appeared carrying a djembe or African style hand drum, settled himself on the rocks above the water and began a slow symphonic tone poem to the setting sun.

Just before I turned up the hill, I noticed a flash of bronze from the rock jetty reaching out into the bay. It was the golden sunlight catching the contours of the bare bottom of a young girl almost camouflaged among the grey rocks.

She had taken down her panties to pee and with the clumsy grace only a young girl can muster, she managed to raise her bum straight up in the air before finally settling down to a more sheltered position. She may have been about 11 or 12 years old, and her mother or older sister stood at the top of the rocks protecting and watching her.

When she finished she clambered up the rocks like a young gazelle and into the lap of the woman and they began to embrace and kiss each other with a kind of playful and erotic gentleness that can only arise between those bonded in spirit and love.

I was far enough away that they couldn't see me watching and I confess I didn't want to tear my eyes away from them; the dance between the two of them was so sublime.

The young girl could not seem to get enough of the hugging and kissing, and did everything she could to entice the other to continue. The older woman while trying to maintain decorum and some distance between them, was obviously enraptured by the energy of the young girl and finally gave up, becoming 12 years old herself and immersing herself in ecstasy of the moment.

At this point I gave up trying to climb the hill and found an empty bench once again to enjoy the full spectacle of the sunset, weather the evening chill, and watch the last of the tug-of-war between the two on the rocks until the deepening dusk drove them to their feet and back up to the seawall.

Now I wonder how I am going to find the words to describe this, I thought as I walked home and meditated on the shape and substance of tomorrow’s blog.