*Spoiler alert it is the sequel to Dancing the Labyrinth
Crete June 2022
It offers a chaos I embrace, with patterns of play and a diversity of manifestations that chase out complacency. Returning to Crete is returning to life. It is familiar but new again. That hotel wasn’t there, that street didn’t have a gutter, where did the sand come from? Same, same, but different. Surprise dumps delight, and I look from eyes that welcome an old friend who has changed in the transition from then to now. She is a past lover who holds many secrets of an intimacy shared. Once again, I am seduced by her charms. Her aromas of myriad feasts entice: her tastes, her dialects, her sense of play.
Freedom beckons: ‘Remember who you were when we were together?’ Our dynamic infiltrates my speech and I speak with inflection as if I were Greek not Philhellene. I practice speaking Greek in every situation, but I am frustrated by a lagging memory which refuses to relinquish the basics of conversation – who, where, how … what is your name? So, my accent becomes exaggerated and I laugh off my limitations with a new light-hearted version of myself. I smile and laugh and fit into my skin, sans judgement of the curves that overlap, overhang, relishing the Greek sun on my body. My heart blossoms and releases delicate perfumes of joy and pleasure.
The Muses sit in the shadows watching. I welcome their presence, the gifts they bring, the demands they make. Soon we will play again.