She

She is as wild as the wind and as  free as the eagles that soar high over mountain-tops. Her love is as deep and unfathomable as the boundless ocean. She walks with her feet planted firmly on earth and her head in the clouds. She breathes stardust and her smile is as radiant as the light of the sun. Her hands have nurtured the young, tended the sick and buried the dead. She has cried rivers of tears and her sorrow has pierced the hardest of hearts. She has faith and strength to move mountains and is fearfully and wonderfully made. Her laughter brings happiness to those she loves. She is maiden, mother and crone. Her wisdom transcends generations. She was, is and will be - till the end of time. She carries the pain of a thousand Eves and the joy of a thousand more. She is imperfectly perfect, indestructible as a diamond yet as delicate as a blossom.

She is Woman.

On a different note …

Gone But Not Forgotten

My plan was to publish the above short post in honour of Woman's Day. But Malta suffered a mini-catastrophe yesterday when a storm destroyed one of its most iconic natural creations - the Azure Window.

This arch rose from the depths of the sea to a height of  almost 100 feet. Nobody knew for sure when the arch was formed. Some geologists are estimating that it was around 500 years old. But yesterday morning, after hundreds of years of standing tall and proud and battling countless storms, it succumbed to the elements and collapsed into the sea after a massive gale hit the island. For  the past few years everyone had been expecting the top part of the arch to cave in and fall into the sea, leaving the stack (pillar) behind - as commonly happens with these types of arches. But in the case of the Azure Window, it was the pillar that had eroded to the point that it could no longer support the massive weight resting on it. And the rest, as they say, is now history. I think that the whole nation was a bit saddened by its loss, mainly because nearly everyone has a photo with the Azure Window as a backdrop or a memory of some sort associated with it; and like all familiar things, their loss, though inevitable, is sometimes harder to accept.

The loss of the Azure Window made it to the international media with reports about its collapse in The Telegraph, The Mirror, BBC News, The Washington Post, The New York  Times and many, many others. I did my own little tribute here.

Many feel as if nature has dealt us a collective blow. But I think it was more of a case that what nature had given it has now taken away. The Azure Window has vanished from sight and what remains of it lies at the bottom of the Mediterranean sea, from where it once rose. Perhaps the sea has only claimed back something that was birthed from its watery womb and, maybe for this particular window, it was time to return - this time to its watery grave. So farewell legend, I was lucky to have known you.

Related links:

• The Azure Window: the end of an icon
• Cliff-jumping in a suit in Gozo