Sea, Stars, and Philosophy

Sit in the cold gray sand. Like a sand crab,

nestle between each grain and wait

for the waves to crash on the shore. Tell me how

the beach is like the sky, a map of tiny things

scattered in empty blue. I’ll say you're wrong,

and there’s so much more

sand on this beach than stars in that sky.

But then you tell me I’m wrong.

The stars we see are not the only stars

in the sky, and the sand we feel is not the only sand

in the world. You tell me how there are ten thousand stars

for every grain of sand on earth. Wow,

I think. How can that be? How is there so much

we can’t see? But you must be right. But

then you’re wrong, too. Cause you said the beach is

like the sky. But, if there are more stars

than sand, you are wrong, too. We’re both wrong

and we start to shiver as the crash zone makes its way

to our antennas. With only my eyes peering

just above the sand, I see the sky in the sea.

Like an oceanic meteor shower. There’s so much

blue between tiny things and I get it now.

We. Us. People. We’re all just tiny

things between a bunch of blue.