In the shade of a heart shaped leaf he lies, eyes closed, absorbing the soft hush of the lapping sea, the insects’ hum, the birds’ songs. One atoll, on the whole planet, one thin strip of land and all around it an endless blue horizon sat below a golden sky, but it is space enough for he and he alone. While he knows the shallows are host to a vast menagerie of aquatic life, flora and fauna alike, and the depths no doubt house some unseen and ancient leviathans, it is the life on this small beach and its central jungle that interest him. From where did they come? The sea, no doubt, but why? An anomaly, easily erased by the march of time or a single, rouge storm. Why has nature invested so much in this small incident in its history? There are several species of bird, none of which exist anywhere else in the universe. There must be only a dozen members of some families, a dozen members of a whole species. Why bother? But then nature is largely raw mathematics and doesn’t burden itself with human considerations. Life thrives where it can, or else there would be no experience of this universe and then there would be no point.
Paddy Dobson
23rd January 2021