Utopia
Island where all becomes clear.
For all its charms, the island is uninhabited,
and the faint footprints scattered on its beaches
turn without exception to the sea.
As if all you can do here is leave
and plunge, never to return, into the depths.
Into unfathomable life.
– Wislawa Szymborska in A Large Number
I am on the way back and struggling with myself like a lovelorn teenager.
My eyes must be playing tricks. When I look at the sky, I see pelicans swooping down. I scan the horizon. I see dolphins leaping. I stare at the floor. I see marine iguanas sprawled in the sunshine. I close my eyes. Colourful fish swim by.
My ears must be playing tricks. I hear the courting whistles of the blue footed male boobies and the reciprocating quacks of the female. I hear the shrieks of magnificent frigate birds. I am startled by the splash of a sea lion as it leaps off a rock next to me. I plug my ears. Bubble sounds invade me.
My mind must be playing tricks. Cicada sounds drench my senses. Salt water drips down my hair forming rivulets on my bare back. I see melon sunsets. I am carried by ocean currents. Spotted eagle rays glide away. Silvery barracudas scatter as I swim by. A turtle pops its head and eyes me only to dart underwater again.
I am parched and sated, overwhelmed yet famished. I am like a zealot who has discovered new articles of faith.
The plane lands in Madrid . I pick up my backpack and walk towards the boarding gate for the connection to Munich . An immigration official stops me. “Where are you going Sir?” ” Germany. ” I hand him my passport. He takes a quick look and hands it back. “Gracias,” I utter in a last attempt at Espanol. “Danke schön,” he says in German at precisely the same moment. We laugh. Reality kicks in.
