Stillness

Stillness
 
The surface of the water is still.
Here and there, a pattern of ripples
                tickles the broad lily pads.
 
It is like a shining mirror of indigo blue
                that reflects the whole of the Universe.
 
Now, turquoise.
Soon, deep violet.
Later, black with images of stars
                dancing in the dark.
 
It is a cosmos of creation,
                a place where light and spirit,
                water and carbon combine
                into endless spirals of life.
 
It explodes with lavender blossoms
                and fans of green leaves.
 
Underneath the surface,
                everything is transfiguring;
                starlight becomes stamen,
                sunlight becomes bud,
                the infinity of water becomes cell,
                then liquid, then cell again.
 
Everywhere, spirit churns the elements into essence,
                and the flowers burst open in the sun.
 

I always think of the Buddha when I see water lilies. I guess it is because of the stories that everywhere he walked lotus flowers would spring up. I can watch the lily pads floating on the surface of the water for hours.  It is like a visual meditation, an asymmetric mandala.  Since humans are 65% water, and most of the material in a living cell is water, water is the basis for all life (along with carbon -- the same kind that is in that pencil on your desk).  So what sparks the weaving of the elements into that DNA? ( In almost all faiths, water holds enough significance to be part of ritual. Every drop is immortal.  One drop splashes on the ground from the rain. It evaporates, but it is still here, in the universe in some form. It rises to the atmosphere, connects with other drops, then falls again. This time it becomes part of the sea, and then part of a cell of an octopus, then part of the intake of a fish, which is caught and eaten and becomes part of you.)  Back to the DNA, how can we explain it?  In my favorite movie, The Razor's Edge (based on the novel of the same name by Somerset Maugham) , Larry Darrell (played by the overwhelming attractive Tyrone Power) asks what is life about.  Is there some meaning to it or "is it all just a stupid blunder?" In the movie, Larry figures it out.  I am still pondering at the side of the pond,