High Tide and Low Tide By Lee Young-ha

The high tide approaches slowly,
gently embracing the sand along the shore.
The waves come quietly, as if whispering,
telling stories hidden in the crevices of the rocks,
and the darkened sea reveals its depth,
preparing for a new encounter with the world.
The low tide withdraws back into the sea,
revealing the land it had kept concealed.
Footprints left upon the sand,
the traces remaining where the water has swept through,
are preserved as something precious,
like the marks left by a human life.
By retreating, the low tide makes space
for the high tide to return once more.
Thus the world moves by pushing and pulling,
respecting each other’s place.
The high tide fills, the low tide empties,
and within this we learn the lesson of endless cycles.
The sea’s dance, repeated again and again
upon the same stage,
breathes with the unceasing rhythm of life.
In the quiet harmony shaped by high tide and low tide,
at the point where the two intersect,
we come to understand:
One must be full in order to be emptied,
and emptied in order to be filled again.
When sky, sea, and land are woven into a single melody
and keep time with the tides,
we behold within it
the beautiful truth of life.





