The ocean is the universe on earth
A page-turning space of truth and secrets
Each drop of water a single star
Each body of water a galaxy
Sometimes I throw rose petals into the sea
Watch them dance as the waves reach for them
and pull away
Over and over
Afraid to own, afraid to leave
But like everything else the petals will drift away
from the rock my feet are rooted to
And I can’t help but wonder if one will reach
another shore
If a girl like me will find them
If that girl is someone that I have unknowingly
passed before
Sometimes on the highway I wonder if the people
that flash by through car windows
Are people I have seen before
The person that I sat next to on a subway
in Boston
Might be a person I bumped into in a store in
Utah
Or a person who has camped next to me
in New York
Sometimes I try to memorize license plates
on the highway
Wonder if that same car has idled past me before
Wondering if I’ll recognize it if I ever see it again
Maybe
That person has stepped on the same sidewalks
as I have
Maybe
They are listening to the same music I am
Maybe
They are wearing the same shoes I am walking in
Maybe
They are reading the same book they have read a
thousand times before like I have
Maybe
They have touched the same walls as me
Maybe we are all like the universe of water
and space
Each star or drop of water strung together,
connected in an endless expanse
To exist and float eternally when everything
else is gone.