Wave

What does it mean to persevere? 

I think you’ll find the essence in this beautiful poem I’ve transcribed below. In addition to teaching creative writing classes for children, we also teach writing classes for adults. This was written in Hebrew, in a class last week. The writer, an older, clearly wise man, has no pretense of being a writer. He simply followed the instruction: 

Write what you see in your mind, and write like you talk.

Here’s what he saw, and how he talks.

Wave
By Benny Halfon 
 
A wave comes and breaks on the rock.
It isn’t a very special wave
but it is my wave.
I followed it since the moment it was created,
I saw it growing up and rising,
I watched it mature,
I noticed its hair becoming white,
I saw it bending down and I could
see the inevitable
– breaking on the rock.

It didn’t break because it was tired,
he didn’t surrender to the rock,
it sacrificed itself knowing clearly that
in the end,
when enough waves like him will come,
the rock would be the one that will surrender.

This rock that seems to be so strong, unwavering,
solid,
so unmovable that it succeeded
to convince a few plants to make it
their place to grow,
their home forever,
on which he promises stability.
A few green leaves,
a few flowers,
yellow, purple, white, red
blending together creating the feeling of “nothing will move me from here”…

And yet, here is another wave that is developing, maturing and sweeping with him
more and more water,
promising to persevere,
promising that this time,
the rock will surrender
and promising that even if not,
he will give everything he’s got.