El Mar

Me desperté aquella mañana escuchando gaviotas y olas marinas, oliendo la brisa del puerto en medio de las montañas. Y lo supe. Él me había encontrado. El mar encontró su camino hacia mí atravesando kilómetros y kilómetros tierra adentro. ¿Será que me extrañaba, tanto como yo lo extrañaba a él?

Sin decir una palabra, me dejó disfrutar de su presencia por un breve instante, y luego me dijo: "No he venido para quedarme, pero te traje algunas cosas; cosas que me dejaste hace tiempo, pero que ahora necesitas guardar porque no voy a llevármelas de vuelta."

Entonces me dio un pedacito de arena con una huella de mi pie que era en ese entonces tanto más pequeño, y también me dio un papelito enrollado dentro de una botella, que encerraba una carta que recordé haber escrito con la ilusión de acompañar algún náufrago imaginario. Después me entregó una canción inventada entre todos a la luz del fuego, una canción que yo creía completamente olvidada. Me devolvió un poco de aquel temor a las olas que sentí la primera vez que el mar y yo nos conocimos, y la mirada de aquel chico de ojos negros, de quien nunca supe su nombre. Me sorprendió que tuviera guardada, después de todo este tiempo, una promesa secreta que hice a la luna; y me sonreí al recibir una pelota gastada que incansablemente hacíamos saltar de acá para allá y al caer la noche se escondía entre las dunas, probablemente buscando donde descansar un ratito.

 Todas esas cosas me dejó, sin siquiera preguntarme, sabiendo que querría recuperarlas. Y así como vino se fue, y me quede en medio de las montañas, con sabor a agua salada y cálido viento de verano, con ganas de irme con él.

The Sea

I woke up that morning to the sound of seagulls and ocean waves, to the smell of the harbor breeze in the middle of the mountains. And I knew it. He had found me. The sea had found his way to me across miles and miles into the land. Could it be that he had missed me, as much as I missed him?

Without saying a word, he allowed me to enjoy his presence for a short while, and then said: “I didn’t come here to stay, but I brought you some things; things that you left with me some time ago but now you need to keep because I’m not going to take them back.”

Then, he gave me a little piece of sand stamped with my foot print, which was so much smaller back then, and he also handed me a bottle which hid a rolled up letter that I remembered having written with illusions of keeping company to an imaginary castaway. Later, he offered me a song that we had all improvised by the fire, a song I believed to be completely forgotten. He also returned a bit of the fear towards ocean waves that I feltwhen he and I first met, and the look of the black eyes of that boy, whose name I never knew. I was surprised to see he had saved, after all this time, a secret promise I made to the moon, and I smiled as I recovered an old ball that we tirelessly play with all day and then at sunset found a way to hide between the dunes, hoping to find a bit of rest.

All these things he left me, without even asking, knowing that I had always wanted to get them back. And just as he came he went away, and I was left there, in the middle of the mountains, with a taste of salt water and the sound of warm summer wind, wishing I had been able to go with him.