Beautiful Nothingness

Beautiful Nothingness

 

At the end of the dock

With the breeze on my face

I hear water lap on the rocks

 

The South Bay mirrors pinks and blues.

Ponto Lake is far from

the world’s workplace

 

It evokes desires of having water,

Clear and cool,

On my skin. Tenderly

 

Floating and diving,

I’m suspended

in beautiful nothingness

 

children laugh, explore

and discover colored rocks

hidden in the sandy shore

 

They jump, splash and crash

In the water, pulling me under

Into beautiful nothingness

Dripping wet, I lay in the Sun

Heated and toasted

dried and baked

I close my eyes

My ego has disappeared

I'm suspended in animated waves

Every desire has left me

Nirvana is in my soul

Friends at the table give

Thanks and share

Phil’s spicy hamburgers

 

Lettuce, tomatoes and oranges

And watermelons

Fish and sweet corn

 

Talk of distant loved ones

Brings us closer together

Ending in contented silence

 

Tired bodies rest in hallowed peace

Broken only by

crying loons under stars

 

Calling me to go to sleep,

In this holy and treasured place:

where Nirvana and Beauty Merge

into Beautiful Nothingness. 

--Michael Hooper, July 2002

This poem is dedicated to Phil Anderson who, on vacation, said, “I’m going to do as much of nothing as I possibly can. How do you quantify nothing? Just you watch.”