The Wavecatcher

Tall and expansive,

Like a huge magnet attracting,

He walked on by the side of the sea.

Swaying to the music of the waves,

As they splashed against the shore,

Each time trying in vain,

To come closer to him.

As close as they could.

He could hear them whining,

Sometimes smiling,

And sometimes talking to him.

Each time he had a question,

He hurled it to the waves,

Abide they did,

To their duty of serving their master,

The Wavecatcher.

Dear Wavecatcher, will you bring me that wave?

Which one is it that you crave?

That wave which is far far away,

Bigger than you and I,

Bigger than the sea,

Behold, as it come towards you,

Perhaps it grows bigger and bigger,

Perhaps it just dies midway,

I could never tell,

But you can, can you?

He controlled them like a magician,

Creating surprises from his black magical hat.

He played with them like a musician,

Each note distinct and soulful.

He adored them like a lover,

Caressing the wounds caused by the shore.

But he caught them like no one else,

Each wave he put in a glass bottle.

And it stayed there forever,

Twirling inside it,

Making patterns of its own.

A galaxy of colours that reflected through the bottles.

And he kept the bottles in his house on the beach.

Dear Wavecatcher,

Won’t you tell me where this wave is headed?

Which city is it coming from?

Won’t it bring me the gift of a smile?

Or the treasures of the sea?

Or remnants of the secrets, buried deep inside?

 Will it bring the tickling sensation of the sands washing past my feet?

Or the suffocating calamity of trying to swim my way through it?

You can tell me, can you?

And one day the weather was just not right,

There was a growing unrest,

Both on the outside and inside.

He seemed to have lost the magical touch,

The same attractive force.

And the waves inside and outside,

No longer cared,

They wanted out,

Each wave flooded its own little bottle.

Each  wave lashed against the shore in desperation.

That is when he let them go,

And it rained like it had never done before.