one day
i saved a bird from falling
a huge distance above the earth
it seemed so not to understand
how hard the ground would be
so
the life i gave it
will keep it safe for ever
it seems to me confusing
why the bird still has it’s wings
the other day
i saved a fish from drowning
deep in the sea it swam
it startled me so badly
it failed to understand
the inevitability of drowning
i saved that fish from drowning
i gave it life for a time
sadly
tragically
that same day
it lost the will to swim
just last night
i saved a demon from the darkness
into the light
i drew it slowly
as dawn broke all around us
the sun
it had never seen
the sunlight seemed to burn it
and now it too
has gone away
so today
i’ll walk my way through life
my footsteps in the sand
and when i see just single sets
I’ll tell that god … fuck off
it’s my life to live as i choose it
porpoising the oceans
soaring high above the earth
cavorting with my demons
singing songs with my angels
if there’s going to be a single set of footsteps
they’re mine
not yours
and look
look around me
the wonder
the shore is covered
with thousands
with thousands
upon thousands
of footsteps
not even counting those
that time and tide have washed away
and who’s
and who’s
who’s
can claim to be those of god
Many years ago I read the poem "Footsteps in the Sand". It always sat uncomfortably with me. Even as a christian back then it annoyed me that in the difficult times god would carry me. I never really got my head around understanding that properly.
Recently I had reason to read it again.
Yesterday I heard a buddhist concept called "saving the fish from drowning". I'd never heard it before and this is the explanation. As a buddhist you can't kill anything. That's a conundrum for a fisherman. So what do you do ... you save the fish from drowning. What a fucked up concept. And then the footsteps poem clicked with why I disliked it so much.
(C) Copyright Luke Visser 2015 (written Sep 2015)
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