SATORI 

Discoveries and observations at the ocean's nursery

​Satori
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When I saw you the first time
surrounded by vast stretches of coastal sand
I turned you over and glimpsed a butterfly with an exquisite pearlescent heart. 

My eyes traced around your scarred contour 
and in my mind’s eye I recomposed your wings by adding back the missing pieces 
to make you whole again and filled with life.

Once your shell breaks, splits apart, and life has left you, have you become useless? 
I shiver at the thought.
The death of the dream of you, a sanctuary you built from the inside out to shelter precious life.
Your layered shell with rings of growth was always a temporary home.
The tide’s dance of push and pull now takes you tumbling and turning, softening your edges.

I dig my feet into the warm shimmering sand and think of you.  
A thousand luminous globes of light rise up from the sand
as the sun’s trapped and dormant electricity dissipates like fire flies into the night.

In death’s wake at the ocean’s nursery
you are born into a new life
giving you wings and freedom.
The imprint of your former self a memory.
I want to touch the echo of what once was.
Feel the rise and fall of your heartbeat’s pulse with the tips of my fingers
and lay my head to rest up against your graceful curved embrace.

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