Fear and Oceans

FEAR by Khalil Gibran

It is said that before entering the sea,

a river trembles with fear.

She looks back at the path she has travelled,

from the peaks of the mountains,

the long winding road crossing forests and villages.

And in front of her,

she sees an ocean so vast,

that to enter

there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.

But there is no other way.

The river cannot go back.

Nobody can go back.

To go back is impossible in existence.

The river needs to take the risk

of entering the ocean,

because only then will fear disappear,

because that's where the river will know

it's not about disappearing into the ocean,

but of becoming the ocean.

I don’t know about you but this poem has been haunting me. I picked it up because of its title, fear, and I put it down with hope the size of an ocean. I picked it up again because of another poetic line which stirs me, every story is a story of water, and I put it down with an exhale of yes.

In a time such as this when fear is a daily, and nightly, reality, we often ask ourselves: what should I do? After this poem I am more inclined to ask: who am I becoming? 

Of course that in itself is terrifying to consider and actions are important and distracting. 

This poem calls me to stay in the fear, facing the expansive beautiful ocean, and ponder  its magnificence. Even if just two feet receive the ebb and flow of salty soothing waves diminishing, I will have become something else, something less fearful, and something facing a vast wonder. I think I will go in up to my knees!