Lessons from Waves

Lessons from Waves

The ocean
At 3am
I walk
I hear
The waves

Each one
Arises
Persists
Passes

So with everything

No controversy
To realize
That no one speaks Latin anymore
Or identifies as a Roman
Or worships Zeus

But I bristle a bit
As I imagine
A time when no one speaks English anymore
Or identifies as American
Or worships Jesus Christ

Languages, countries, religions
Waves
Arising, persisting, passing

I itch a mosquito bite
It seems, in the moment
That the itch will last forever
Yet the bite is a wave, too
A mountain on my skin forms, persists
Then recedes

A real mountain is also like this
Over much longer
Spans of time

Botox smooths wrinkles
A magic trick that obscures decay
Until the next injection
Three months later

Childhood,
The time of smooth skin
Is a wave
Mine's gone now, I must admit

Humans put their names
On buildings, organizations, children
From a redwood's eyes
It's easy to see
That all these projects
Are waves too

The oldest redwood was alive 
When the Egyptians 
Were building pyramids
Though we still visit Giza
Little of that old society's culture
Remains alive

Species are waves
Even the long-lived redwood
When viewed through the million-year eyes
Of the grand canyon

And the grand canyon is itself a wave
When viewed with the billion-year eyes
Of earth

And through even longer 
Cosmic lenses
The whole of planet earth
Is itself a wave
Once again 

Zooming back in:
Consciousness also
Is made of waves

Thoughts, feelings, emotions
Born, persist, and pass

In every moment
We are reborn

Consciousness is not a solid thing
But a series of moments
A procession of waves

I can identify
With this particular wave
Of "me"
Or I can see
That all beings 
Present, past and future
Are waves
Unique in their own unrepeatable way
And also made up
Of the same
Water

The Light in me
Is 
The same Light in you