My Life in Pants: The Place That Found Me

The Place That Found Me

I walked upon an empty beach,
Empty of people, yet full of presence,
Not void of autobiography or silent narrative.
The morning air was crisp,
The sounds—soft whispers of tide and breeze,
The water lapping at the quiet shore,
As if in conversation with the sand,
A rhythm ancient, uninterrupted,
Inviting me to attend,
To listen,
If only for a while.

I lingered where the waves met the shore,
Their touch cool, fleeting,
Tracing gentle lines upon the earth,
Then retreating—
A constant movement, never claiming,
Only offering, only being.

Beyond the quiet shores,
Boats lingered at the horizon,
Distant, moving, vague but present.
Distant shapes, shifting, drifting on calm waters.
Silent travelers upon the vast expanse.
Perhaps others experiencing their own
Private solitudes,
Carried by the same tide,
Bound by the same breath of ocean and sky.

And beneath it all,
I felt it keenly:
That the unseen currents in the depths go on,
Moving with ancient rhythm,
A pulse steady, unspoken,
Unconcerned with time,
Yet shaping every moment.

I stood, listening,
Not part of the many conversations,
Only witness to its telling,
A brief observer to a world
That did not seek me out,
But welcomed me nonetheless.

The tide whispered against the shore,
Not just to me,
Not just for me,
But I claimed it nonetheless.
Its voice carried quiet weight,
Speaking in ripples, even in retreat,
In the hush between movement,
In the breath of the waiting wind.

And above it all,
The sky joined the dance,
Clouds shifting in slow procession,
Neither hurried nor still,
Tracing unseen paths
That mirrored the ocean’s own.
The dance, a wordless conversation.

It all spoke to me,
In words that I cannot express,
But felt to the depths of myself.

And in that moment,
The world asked nothing,
Offered nothing,
But existed, whole and complete.

I was merely passing through,
Yet for that brief window in time,
I belonged. I was part.
I was whole, and I was renewed.

As the sun rose higher in the sky,
People began to arrive at my empty beach,
And it was mine no longer.
I continued on my way.

As time passes, and my normal life goes on,
That peaceful memory, it reminds me,
When I need to be reminded:
I am not lost.
Not lost at all.
I found that beach,
And that beach found me,
And brought me back to myself.
To the real sense of my being, revitalized.

I am that empty beach,
And that empty beach, it is me.
Not really empty at all,
Just waiting to be seen.