Hokusai's Great Wave (after the Tokyo tsunami in 2011)

The great wave hangs endlessly near Tokyo.

At seventy-five, Hokusai had learned the patterns of nature,

so he painted the marvelous wave that does not touch the shore

but shows its white cap as it threatens to roll onward 

dwarfing Mount Fuji, centered in the vastness of water,

reminding us it, too, will one day do much more.

His wave does not leave ugly sludge filled with bodies 

of people vital and smiling, 

alive the moment before.

There are no desperate, wounded children nearby.

The great wave hangs in beauty

in faultless harmony;

destruction and loss forever an act undone.

© 2011 C. Harter Amos