The Sound of Waves

I practice
Mindfulness and Letting Go
Like holding on to a rock battered
By waves in furious flow.

It takes all my strength
To keep my hands from slipping though
As single-mindedly I cling
To hopes of a peaceful shore.

What happened to those golden gifts
That life is supposed to bring to us?
Love, friendship, beauty and joy
Travel, food and boisterous laughs . . .

Alas, they had an expiry date
Either in death or slow decline.
And dependent on human emotions
They ebbed and flowed like sea tide.

Riding high and falling low
I used to straddle every giant wave
Loved the salt spray on my lips
And the sun on my eager face.

But that was just a moment’s joy,
You cannot make it life-long,
There are things that drag you very deep
Right down to the seafloor—dull and dark.

And when you are at the bottom
Where the sunbeams never ever reach
You want to let yourself be covered over
By the vegetation of the deep.

Even in that somnolent state
So far from the world of men,
The heart does not find rest and
Thoughts gnaw on like a nibbling rat.

It was the love that warmed my days
And put a spring in my steps
That became a stone that pulled me down
To the bottom of the sea.

It wasn’t anybody’s fault
Nothing that he or I did
It’s just the way emotions are
Just the way things evolve.

But I cannot let myself sink
And end it in that wretched state
So I rise again to seek the sun
And find a wave to make me safe.

Then walking in the yellow sand
And hearing the eternal roar
Of waves that always come and go
I let go of my past selves.