Photo by Scotty Johnson

While I was on holidays recently I got to surf at my favourite time of day – twilight – when the sea and the sky slow dance as the lights onshore blink into life. I was so moved by the experience when a dear friend and I paddled out together at Belongil beach at Byron Bay that I wrote a poem called “the dance”.

There is no escape from romance at sunset.
Blushing pinks whisper into blues that
stroke the top of the sky then
tumble into Wollumbin's shield
of mountainous ridges circling the Bay.
The sun exhales in flames.

Last night the lighthouse glowed but
tonight it dozes;
we almost lose it as dusk wraps it in her quiet pastels.
Together the sky and the sea slow dance.
Nocturnal chiffons and lace trace liquid
pathways and patterns across the water until
reflections spin like a living Van Gough
lighting up the night.

And we, in shiny black seal skins, paddle
our longboards out late,
our eyes adjusting to dim lights and our ears
to the hush of sighing foam,
our backs flex as we glide beyond the shorebreak to
the dark place where all is still.

It is his silhouette that stuns me.
Not a single feature visible,
he is pressed up against the world
like a mythical hero returning home
from war.
And he is bone weary. And he is crushed. And he is lost.
And he is found as the sky and the sea dance
their heartbreakingly beautiful dance.