Seagulls On Williamstown Beach

Still drowsy with sleep an autumn morning stretches itself out along Williamstown beach and settles with barely a breeze to break the water's mirrored glaze. You sit and take in the warm air, the easy flow, the prayers murmured over glistening rocks by a rising tide. There's no desire to be elsewhere but already the slow unpicking starts. First a stray thought slips by then doubles back to take your focus. It paces like a hungry gull testing the edges of your space, probing for a hole. Then another wheels around and flares its wings to land nearby, then another. Soon you are surrounded. They stand and watch until you drop a fear, then they pounce in a frenzy. Each morning you come back as if drawn by an inner need, each morning they wait knowing you're good for a feed.