The sea

Once i died abroad and found a lot of things about me. I found what i miss most, my daughter and the sea. When i came home, for my complete surprise, i just breathed the air and new i was home. I never have noticed before that the air is different in my country. I love the sea but i can't go to the beach in the summer. That is, i do go to the beach, but don't enjoy the beach and the sun and the sea and the people gathering in a mob smelling of sunblock.
I love the sea when is winter. The sea then show us is most theatrical side, with big wave crashing and thundering on the rocks. The air becomes full of sea water brought by the wind. If there is a small rain, so lite is seams a fog, and the air is cold, so we fell comfortable and warm is heavy clothing, then is perfect. I also like the beach at night in summer. When i had a dog i could take to walk, i went to the beach at night. I knew the security guards, and they knew me and my dog. I would walk 5km very late at night, alone in the beach, just me my dog and the dark sound of small waves rolling in the sand. Then i would come home, sat in the balcony and read under the moonlight, if there was enough, or just listened the ocean a little more. I also used to go to a big rock somewhere in the beach, after sunset, when it gets dark and wrote. I hardly could see what is was doing, but wrote poetry those days of anger, freeing all my daemons.


In summer, before vacations, before the mob invades all the boardwalks and sandy beaches, i also love the hours before the middle of the morning, when the air is still chilly from the night mist and starting to get warm from the new sun. When looking at the sea, at those hours, with the sun behind, one can sea the most beautiful blues from sea and sky merging together in the distance.
The poet said that portuguese is full of sea, that there is many salt in the sea made of portuguese tears. I now it's true. We also have magical mountains, not big mountains, but they do have one thing in common, they have a sanctuary on the top, big or small, still attracting pilgrims or not, they all face the sea winds and the sunset.
Being and living by the sea made us respect fate, respect the powers beyond us. You can't fight the sea, if you go to the sea you must know and respect the sea. You should trust the sea will take care of you, you give yourself to the sea. In 1974, in the 25 of April we had a revolution. The army didn't wanted go to war anymore. We where at war then. Some soldiers went in the morning to Lisbon to stop the war. A couple of them took control of tv and the radio stations, others went to the streets and the government headquarters. The government then sent some soldiers to fight back. The soldiers, instead of fighting, started talking trying to convince each others that fighting wasn't usefull, they where friends. They also started to convince the prime minister to resign.
Nobody really knows how, but at some point people that gathered in the streets started to put red carnations in the guns of the soldiers, so that the guns wouldn't be used. The army that didn't wanted war made a revolution without shooting guns. I blame the sea, the tide changed and we respected the sea, as we have done for many centuries before.