The Only Obligation

Lessons in Surrender, Taught by the Undulating Waves

Lying on the ocean’s surface, cradled in its gentle, rolling waves, my mind released its grip on all thought, feeling, and the need to make sense of the world. My ears submerged, my breath a muffled song, the sounds of life - my grandchildren’s laughter, the cawing of seagulls - faded into a muted, comforting murmur.

“This is grace,” my soul whispered. “This is the moment, now. This is all that need be known.”

That profound stillness was broken only by a ripple of joy. My granddaughter’s call. “Yiaya! Come see!” I rolled out of the sea’s embrace and swam toward her to witness her underwater swim: fearless, joyful, utterly free.

In that instant, life and its unending lessons to be present, shimmered on the water’s surface like sunbeams dancing on the water.

The obligation of this chaotic life is not to ‘make’ every thread count, but to remember the fragility of the gift itself.

We forget that tomorrow is not a guarantee; it is merely the story we cannot live today.

Giving my body over to the water’s undulating waves, I embraced reality: This. This is the moment that counts. This is where today exists and tomorrow begins.

Poem 115 of my odyssey to write a love poem a day for a year, is a celebration of that awakening: the magnificence of simply being held in the moment, now.

Poem 115: The Flawless Cradle
by Louise Gallagher

Body suspended
angel wings spread wide
caressing the water
	a slow surrender to the flawless cradle of the sea.
Each breath a sacred whisper
quieting the mind’s endless chatter.

Weightless. Effortless.
The sun, an open palm on the skin,
 	the air, a whisper of warm balm.
No place to be. 
Nothing to achieve.

I breathe.

My body releases itself a wholly, holy life
 gravity conspiring 
with the ocean’s ancient, alchemic grace 
	to dissolve every worry, 
washing the world down to a soft
salt-brine hum sweet against my ears.

I float.

Each inhalation a sacred gift
proof of life’s enduring power 
	drawing invisible energy 
to anchor the mind in the magnificent, lasting
holiness of the now.

I transcend.

The mind, a closed vault, 
opens with grace 
	to the light streaming inward
Thought, an insignificant pebble, 
released to the sheer, unmeasurable space 
of the sky’s magnificent, brilliant blue.

It is here 
the only obligation is to simply be held: 
	my body liberated
releasing wholly to the vast, undulating waves 
free, infinite, and eternally sustained.