Full Lotus

When he fell off the ferry and no one noticed I can’t imagine what Hideo thought.
He must’ve struggled for hours between the mainland and the island.
When I saw him, he’d wrapped himself into full lotus posture,
and appeared while I was surfing a rough spot by the pier.
For a nano-second I thought, “Shark.”
Before the word finished forming I realized, “No, it’s a guy.”
The wave pulled him towards the surface near the shore,
and cradled him in its crest.

Hideo was poised in death
like a Zen novice, his faith resolute and unpracticed.
The wave, a pickpocket’s hand, slipped him onto the shore
then quickly withdrew.  Beneath him, a thin sheaf
of the receding wave remained.
He sat in full lotus and under him, a mirror image,
lacking the ability to stare back, reflected his death to the sky.