The whole beach was sheathed in a thick veil of darkness. A laconic breeze ruffled the misted, ebullient tides, each ripple affectionately caressing the shoreline in all-consuming passion. Throngs of tourists threaded out of the pebbly seashore, the distant echoes of their footsteps fading away little by little. She meditated, lost in wonder.
***
It was the dreamy summer before her sophomore year of high school, as well as the transient epoch that preceded her lyrical revelation. She had wanted to commence the academic term in high spirits; however, a sense of jitteriness penetrated her skin and smothered her soul. For the first time in years, she was unwilling to depart from the sprawl of lazy summer days, for the oppressive emptiness in her veins effaced the sparkle and languor of summertime.

She, a morose hermit inhabiting a teenage body, ensconced herself in the sanctuary of her bedroom and sought to bolster her self-assurance, for the mental exhaustion that stemmed from the breakdown of a complicated romantic relationship eroded every shred of confidence she possessed. Although she believed that the separation was for the best – she would later realize that the separation was indeed for the best – she found it difficult to obliterate from her mind bittersweet memories of him.

Oh, the brief yet eternally resounding joys of adolescent relationships. One might stop to mock the absurd drama of relationship standstills, and dismiss the sadness that detonated her spirits as trivial and nonsensical, but her poor, naïve heart really did yearn to spend the rest of her life with him… He had taken her aboard a rollercoaster ride of extreme emotions, a journey that ceaselessly toyed with her heart and rendered her breathless. At the time she was convinced that every part of him mesmerized her; he was a convoluted mystery that aroused her deepest passions and uncovered her darkest fears. Full of reminiscences, it dawned on her that letting go of their collected memories would be nothing short of an arduous task.

But self-isolation, however comforting at its initial stages, would not help her find emotional closure. She would learn later in life that it took more than self-imposed isolation to let go of a cherished one. She willed it in her resolve to visit the beach, in the hope of seeking solace.
***
The beach in the summertime emanated an otherworldly charm - it had been a long time since she had last felt the warmth of sunlight on her skin and the lapping of docile waves against the shoreline. Her soul luxuriated upon setting foot on the magnificent stretch of sand that sloped down to the water’s edge. Lush, swaying foliage and azure, cloudless skies framed the beach, offering an immediate refuge from the turbulent, madding multitudes of city life. She radiated with happiness, sinking her body into the emerald-tinted waters and immersed herself in what she foolishly perceived as a perennial paradise.

But her happiness was fleeting. After a few hours of basking in the brilliance of sunlight, she found that the sun was setting with a deep-red glow. Blood-orange hues rayed forth from the sky, and dying beams of light fluttered across the water’s surface. The tides, illuminated by the rusty red of the sunset, never ceased to embrace the shorelines with impetuous ardor. The flickering embers of sunlight waned until they were inundated by ubiquitous darkness. Sighing, she gazed up at the sky and its faint crimson tinges as they dwindled and died in favor of nightfall.

With the dusking sky came a sudden chill that wove its way through the crevices in her bones. Distancing herself from the water, she lamented the transience of daylight and the brevity of her relationships, all of which burned and waned in the passage of time. In that split-second and the ones that ensued, she mourned over the nature of love on earth – how the strong attachment between two people sought to be true and everlasting, but climaxed in feelings that were ephemeral and broken. And she meditated, lost in wonder.

Oh, she was not aware of how long this newfound discovery would linger in her heart and turn her into a poster child for unbridled cynicism. In the following years, she would obstinately dismiss any form of affection as detestable, and dub every conversation between lovers cloying prattle. Day by day, these profound feelings of distrust and doubt fettered her to an insular prison in which she felt incessant pangs of bitterness over her inability to express loving sentiments. Poor, poor child! Such is the nature of the adolescent mind, which remains all too susceptible to the damages that distressing revelations provoke. It was tragic – such emotional menaces caused her to look with a jaundiced eye on the many vicissitudes of love.

***

It would be many years later, on one evening in the early fall, when I would revisit the beach. The summer heat had relented, and the trees burst into blazing, variegated shades of red. Tourists, who spent days cherishing the charms of this pocket of paradise, were picking up their sandals and heading to their hotels. It was a fine evening: not one veil of mist could disrupt the electric smoothness of the sky. Gentle winds brushed against the glistening waters, and the whole landscape breathed an air of autumnal freshness. As darkness began to fall, I gazed at the tides, which ebbed and flowed to a constant rhythm. A foreign sense of calmness coursed through my veins.

For in that moment, I realized that in spite of the countless times it has been chased away, the tide will always embrace the shoreline with tender love. Torrents of rain may conspire to weigh upon the shimmering waves, dirt and debris may be ensnared in the deep ocean below, but these hindrances will prove futile.

For the tides have never stopped, and will never stop, enveloping the shoreline in everlasting passion.