The Ocean

There are few moments in life that balance abject fear and unbridled exhilaration. For me, those rare moments have always lived on the ocean, with the towering sky above and the fathomless depths below. The beach is a place to marvel at the ocean, to flirt with its wonders. I see its beauty anew through my little ones' wide eyes. e.e. cummings captured this beauty in a poem:

​maggie and milly and molly and may 
went down to the beach(to play one day)

​and maggie discovered a shell that sang 
so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing 
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone 
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me) 
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea