my life is a stroll
upon beach, as near ocean’s
edge as I can go
My life is like a stroll upon the beach,
As near the ocean’s edge as I can go;
My tardy steps its waves sometimes o’erreach,
Sometimes I stay to let them overflow.
My sole employment is, and scrupulous care,
To place my gains beyond the reach of tides,—
Each smoother pebble, and each shell more rare,
Which Ocean kindly to my hand confides.
I have but few companions on the shore:
They scorn the strand who sail upon the sea;
Yet oft I think the ocean they’ve sailed o’er
Is deeper known upon the strand to me.
The middle sea contains no crimson dulse,
Its deeper waves cast up no pearls to view;
Along the shore my hand is on its pulse,
And I converse with many a shipwrecked crew.
The Fisher’s Boy by Henry Thoreau as published in Poems of nature )Houghton, Mifflin & Co.: Boston , 1895).
in the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, Clarence the Angel famously disproves the existence of George Bailey by listing all the forms of identification George no longer has.
Clarence says, “There is no George Bailey. You have no papers, no cards, no driver’s license, no 4-F card, no insurance policy… No Zuzu’s petals.”
I wonder what do we accomplish even when we carry those papers?
Our lives may be a rock dropped into a small pool (or a large one) where ripples on the surface have impact beyond out knowing.
But for ourselves?
I stroll the beach whenever I can.
As near the ocean’s shore I can go.
My tardy steps its waves sometimes overreach.
Sometimes I stay to let them overflow.
I will leave a trail of footprints to show where my feet have been.
But in a couple of hours, the tide comes and all evidence of me is erased.
So Mr. Thoreau warns to place your gains beyond the reach of the tides.
Along the shore, my hand is on the pulse.
Place your gains beyond the reach of the tides.
Keep Zuzu’s petals in your pocket.
It’s a wonderful life.
No Haiku For You 