an oasis

the sand buried itself beneath my fingernails

as i plucked apart the pages

of this week’s pleasure read.

back and forth.

back and forth.

to the beat of the ocean breeze.

pages turning and mind wandering,

as ruthless hairs

swung across my face,

breaching my focus,

allowing my mind to helplessly wander,

as it often does,

past the horizon

and onto the beyond,

and whatever it is that lies ahead.

i wonder what that might look like -

the beyond.

my toes submerged beneath the ocean,

wetting themselves,

with the breath of the tide -

in and out,

in and out,

the only predictable thing.

i breathe in and out,

but even breath is unpredictable.

our once unconscious dependency,

now a precious sign of our own mortality,

and morality.

i look out at the beyond,

at the blurred blue line

slicing sea and sky

and i wonder,

what lies beyond it.

i can’t see it,

but i can imagine.

because i know what lies before it,

the rise and fall of waves,

crinkling over

as they make their journey to the shoreline,

inevitably,

and beautifully.

certainty is an oasis in a desert of uncertainty.

i look out at the horizon,

the tranquil surface and the life beneath it,

at all the unknown.

and i imagine what lies beyond it,

and what that might look like -

the beyond.

the future.

i imagine that whatever it is,

it’s beautiful.

because what lies before it,

the crashing waves and infinite tide,

the rhythmic blanket of greens and blues,

is home to the most beautiful things -

the sunrise.

the sunset.

the horizon.

we can’t see what it is

that is coming.

we can’t see what lies beyond the horizon.

but we know

that whatever it is

it is beautiful.

-s.m.