Have you ever thought that there are not enough words to describe what you are seeing?
Just imagine a sunny Saturday morning. Imagine that you are driving around in a car, watching the beautiful landscape of a place you do not know yet and you want to explore. You stop on the summit of a hill and down there you see a bay. The sea is blue with shades of green, the sand white and the rocks falling sheer into the water.
You drive down to the bay. From down there you can see the white crest of the waves rolling up on themselves, you can stand on the top of a rock and watch the big and powerful waves breaking in thousands terrible splashes. You feel as if you were on the top of the world.
And while you are standing there looking at the magnificent show with sparkles in your eyes you realize that it is the most wonderful place you have ever seen. It is not just beautiful; it gives you a strange feeling. You feel your blood flowing in your body, you feel alive.
All those waves make you feel scared of the power of nature.
You are suddenly thinking that you do not know enough words to express what you are feeling, not even a little. Even the most realistic photograph wouldn’t be enough. You just want to laugh, laugh and run on the top of those rocks exactly as you were on the top of the world.
You are looking for a word, an adjective, something that could express that huge idea of wonder you are experiencing in your mind. The idea is too big. You can feel it compressed in your thoughts. There is not enough room; the idea is trying to find a way out in order to expand out of you. You are about to explode.
You are begging the whole world to tell you the word you are looking for, maybe to invent a new one. You are thinking: “please, please tell me a word that will define what I am feeling”.
But do you really need a word? Do you really want to define it? Do you need to catalogue this experience using a general and cold expression? No, you don’t.
You just want to stay there and stare into the water, into the distance, observing every single grain of sand until you are part of such a place. You want to get lost in the water and never come back.
Now, if you have been able to imagine all this kaleidoscope of sensations, ask yourself: are there enough words to describe what I have seen?
I can tell you… No, there aren’t. But I’ve stopped looking for them. I do not need them anymore. I have seen with my eyes more than what the words could ever express.
Maria Perotto