Living Zen Life

Here again I come to this long lovely shore
bringing my chair to sit up a ways
from where others run walk slowly
dogs in joyful romp and play! 

I feel a calm still loneliness sitting here
surveying the broad expanse of horizon
as if I could perceive the earth's round curve
stretching south to north
is it only an illusion?

Chill morning breeze surrounds
dune grasses sway gentle giving way to wind.

Morning sun rises at my back 
to see my shadow stretch before me
beach and surf brightened
beyond the placid ocean dark.

I can write nothing of sea shore
not better written by others
still I will try my hand
put words to what cannot be

I think of Dover Beach* ceaseless susurrus
pebbly beach noisy in surf
it's long withdrawing roar
eternal note of sadness
or Ozymandias* lone and level sands stretch far away.

I come here as I can
watch waves pound their way to the shore
sit still feel mournful regret
so much loss - my own this land.

We've been terribly shaken
wiles of men and cruel ways
trying not to look behind me
where America stretches back
to sweep of Atlantic blue.

Sorrowful to think how much is lost 
fear I have it cannot be regained
I do not know nor can understand
what I can possibly do to find it
when suddenly, in a burst of flight,
come a wild swarm of dragonflies
such as I've never seen, glorious!
an hour I watched dragonflies
wing thousands past 
southward autumn migration.

The dragonfly host gives me morning hope 
for sea wind grass creatures who will wing and crawl their ways
in directions all the endless horizon can hold
sun dawning on a resilient land.

My photo, Manzanita Beach, Oregon, September 5, 2026.

*Dover Beach," Matthew Arnold (1867)
*Ozymandius," Percy Bysshe Shelley (1817)