Paul Signac | The Town Beach, Collioure, Opus 165 (Collioure. La Plage de la ville. Opus 165) | The Metropolitan Museum of Art (metmuseum.org)
The Town Beach, Collioure, Opus 165 – Paul Signac
Second Sister – 10/13/21
…and at times as she walked, wandered, alone along the shore, her quiet time, her time with her thoughts and life impressions, the chapel she had made within her soul, out of the ocean and sky about and around her, vast and endless, yes, yet the intimacy of her steps, every step she took, weighty with the years, freighted with memories of loves, disappointments, lovers and friends…and those who left, wandering away, some, and others now lost, but some who still blessed her with quiet evenings, or their own steps beside hers, yes, also weighted and yet light with the depths and mountaintops shared and lived again together as their souls begin to mingle as one…and always just beginning, for with each step a new depth was revealed…the endless landscape of the life revealed for a moment, just as the first golden touch of the morning light reveals and blesses the awaiting expanse below it. And within her chapel of the sky and the ocean, the sound of the softly spreading waves arises as the lingering murmurs, precious and treasured of those, those few, who warmed the bed beside her, their smell imparted on the pillow beside hers always a perfume and incense that lingered after they arose with the morning, their fragrance now giving weight and lightness to every step and thought, flooding her heart with the love and deep pleasures of the soul, lightening her walk with the life and yearnings and fulfillments of those minutes and hours and years, and in her life, the sanctuary of her soul, that now as eyesight dims and the steps slow and the ear misses, at times, the nuances of every word, sometimes just a few, the life, which moves with every step, blesses the life now, giving even more life to her walk, to the steps of the very next moment, and, of each moment, she breathes deeply with peace and joy…
Walks along the beach are so beneficial. As we grow old and frail they mean even more. Those of us in the last quarter of life truly understand this piece. Life is good. Keep on living.