There are many things I avoid in life
and swimming in oceans is one of them

I don't trust the waves
that drown my barely-floating body
or the current
that seduces me into the center
of the unknown

I don't trust the jellyfish
that have stung me one too many times
and the the algae that grab my legs
into the deep darkness

But something about the sand
makes it all feel beautiful
the way it reminds me
that it was once a rock

that maybe collapsing
is what makes one beautiful

because it as only then
that they truly become
*themselves