Foam
We come into this world awash in tears,
Mourning our incipient separation—
Too soon we age and leave it, mired in fears,
So loathe to part with individuation.
The waves that crash, the foam atop the seas,
Occlude an ocean, fathomless, profound—
And when that water fractures into me’s,
Myriad ephemeral droplets abound
And frolic in a mist one glorious trice,
Fall terror-bound back in the womb, coalescing,
Rejoin the life that once was all they knew…
Perhaps our fear of change provides a clue
Why human arts nor nature’s quite suffice
To sustain appreciation of our blessing.
Josh Mitteldorf was educated to be an astrophysicist, but his life was derailed by the anti-war movement and New Age revolution of the 1970s. His two daughters were among the first adoptees from China in the 1980s. His book, Cracking the Aging Code was co-authored by Carl Sagan’s son, Dorion. He writes about science and politics at UnauthorizedScience.org. His own poetry and music, together with curated uplifting works of others, appear at Daily-Inspiration.org. His volume of brilliantly illustrated sonnets on the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching is available as an app for augury at I-Ching.guru.
This is so beautiful. It reminds me of the Hindu concept of Moksha or Nirvana, when the soul joins the mighty oneness of the Creator or Universe, dissolving all sense of id.