{"sf1_id":1419812,"sf2_id":"rnajWvL1","title":"The Thrilling Solitude","author":"The_Peoples_Vince_Offer","words":609,"posted_at":"2019-02-09T17:46:00.000Z","tags":["Coastal","Poetry","free verse"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1419812-the-thrilling-solitude","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/rnajWvL1","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/d6/5e/d65e1db4-2820-4687-87f7-754f50e0936b","description":"It's the 1-year of my friendship to  Mantrid_Brizon, and this is the gift I made for it. Here's to many more great years to come!!","content":"I cruise down the road\n\nIn my Mercedes-Benz 280SL\n\nDown the coastal highway\n\nTo the isolated cottage\n\nThat was my home\n\nYou see, I had driven in a long circle\n\nTo re-live the thrill\n\nOf going back home\n\nBack to my home on the coast\n\nThat came from a past time no more\n\nWhen I still lived in the city\n\nAnd I yearned for the ocean\n\nAnd thus light up in joy\n\nWhen I saw the coast, oh the glorious coast\n\nApproach on the horizon\n\nUpon which I knew that I was almost home\n\nThat I was nearing home at last\n\nIt was crisp early December day\n\nAnd the sky had a magnificent afternoon winter twilight\n\nSo thus I cruised\n\nWith the pagoda hardtop removed\n\nSo I can feel the crisp cold wind\n\nRush through my hair\n\nAnd in my face\n\nOh, how cleansing, how cathartic\n\nThe rush felt\n\nAkin to a purifying stream of cold water\n\nThat washes away all sadness, and grief in my life\n\nAnd I savoured every bit of it\n\nI reached my cottage, and drove into the garage\n\nWhere I put the hardtop back on the car\n\nAnd switched to my Mercedes-Benz 500SL\n\nWhich I then\u0026nbsp;removed the hardtop off of\n\nBut this time I drove\n\nTo the water line\n\nAnd let the wheels tread in the water a bit\n\nBefore I drove inland\n\nGot out and sat down\n\nFacing the ocean\n\nOh how the mysteries of it\n\nCompels me towards it\n\nSo that I may be swathed in the beauty\n\nThat is the mysteries of the ocean\n\nAnd I drove back\n\nAnd put the hardtop back on\n\nAs they said it would rain tomorrow,\n\nBut that then the rain will become snow\n\nI drove back with the hardtop on\n\nAnd fished,\n\nPreferably for Winter Flounder\n\nThat moved inland when these coastal waters cooled\n\nAnd offshore when the coastal waters warmed up\n\nI caught some Winter Flounder (what a surprise)\n\nAnd brought it home for dinner\n\nLater that night, I tucked away cosily\n\nFor the impending snowstorm\n\nAnd the snow did come\n\nBlanketing the beach in a beaming blanket of white\n\nThat hid all potential traces of activity there\n\nTelling all who observed the landscape,\n\n\"Forget all, forget all of it\n\nThe footsteps matter no more now\n\nNor any sign\n\nOf the things that shaped the sand\n\nWhether by footprint\n\nOr by strong gusts of wind\n\nIt's not important anymore\n\nLet you now focus\n\nOn the beauty of winter\n\nAnd the grey clouds that roll in\n\nAnd the bright orange sunshine that reflects off the snow\n\nThat is all that truly matters now\"\n\nAnd I look out the window\n\nAfter finishing the last of yesterday's flounder\n\nAnd I curled up on top of my bed\n\nGazing at the noiseless blanket of white\n\nAnd the waters that rolled beyond it\n\nPondering the fact that it being a desolate coast\n\nMeant that all the beauty of this shoreline is mine\n\nIt was all mine to enjoy\n\nIn this solitude, this thrilling solitude\n\nAnd I focused on the fact that around me\n\nWas this said beautiful coast I dwell in\n\nAnd the fact that the beauty of it surrounds me\n\nAnd touches my heart\n\nIn the infinite void inside of me\n\nYou see, inside of me\n\nIs this beautiful infinite void of the universe\n\nAnd in the dead center of it is my heart\n\nAnd I cuddle it firmly with my soul\n\nGently but firmly\n\nThe soul lightly floating in the space\n\nAnd the truth that is the sheerness\n\nOf the beauty of the coast around me touches my heart\n\nAnd so thus then does my heart soar\n\n  \n  \n\n"}