Ocean Ahead And Within

Ocean in view ahead
(and in time within) that resets all 
with every wave breaking,
changing not just the land
but this man
standing on the land

watching, feeling the shift underfoot;
the country itself shifting, the nature
of what has felt solid shifting — yes,
it was illusion but all we have had here
has always been illusion and we’ve learned 
how to live in it more or less; 

now as the ocean —
out there,
in here, or both at once —
begins its
inexorable drive
to deconstruct 

and then to rebuild,
utterly unconcerned
with the particulars
of what and who
shall crumble
in its rhythmic path,

this man on the sand 
falls to his knees,
soaking them in the littoral,
wondering what may fail
as he may fail
as the ocean triumphs,

as the world
changes
without a choice,
as I change
without a choice
or even a chance to choose.