If the body is the shore

“The Body is the shore on the ocean of being.”

—Sufi (anonymous)

If the body is the shore

may I travel yours,

learn what grows in this soil,

learn what it feels like

to see the sunrise from this land.

And may I float on the vast ocean

of your being, feeling the pull of your tides.

I can never know you, fully,

Your sands so numerous and shifting,

Your trees unnumbered, rolling across

acres of wild terrain.

But if your body is the shore,

may I honor you like this same

mystery of earth

and may our coming together

always remind me of your endless

ocean.