On The Beach

It’s hard to think of anything but peace

   When I watch waves curling into the shore.

All my life’s needs and worries drown and cease;

   All cares beyond the moment’s are no more.

The tide comes in without a thought of me;

   The waves curl left, curl right, then lick the land.

I try to fathom its immensity

   But it’s like counting stars or grains of sand.

I feel—I fear—that there’s nothing in me

   As deep as what lies one league from this beach—

No matter how far out I swim or see,

   The shallows are all that I’ll ever reach—

      And that I’ll die without the slightest notion

      Of all that swims in life’s untidy ocean.

 

Copyright 2014 Matthew J Wells